Do Not Fear the Crock Pot

The Crock Pot. A genus invention that lets machine do the hard work and leaves your home smelling that a fine restaurant (if you've followed the recipe right). Yet it's funny how such a simple machine leaves so many baffled. And I'm not judging; I've been right there with the rest of them. No one likes a failed meal let alone one that you cook for an entire day just to feed to the trash. Also, there seems to be an extreme of recipes out there; they are either soups and stews or really intricate meals included in the "Slow Cooker Manual" that comes with most Crock Pots (I honestly can't look at mine without feeling a total aversion to my Crock Pot. Too many steps, too many ingredients, too much room for failure). And as far as soups and stews go, there are only so many you can make before going stir crazy. Also, as a Floridan, there are not many days that require a hearty stew to keep you warm, that's what we have the proximity to the Equator for.

I didn't realize my potential for sharing my Crock Pot wealth until my high school friend, Esther, Facebooked me with this request: merecon I need some non-stew, non-gross, healthy crock pot dinner recipes..mind doing the work for me of finding some good ones? :). Obviously she fed right into my weakness for online recipe hunting, hence this blog, smart gal. Also, on a side note, she is an amazing writer. Check out her blog "Lovingly Thrown Together" when you have a chance. It has a little bit of everything, the photography is fantastic, she'll make you laugh, cry, but most of all you relate to her. I like to think of it as my blog's cooler, more polished, friend's older sister that sometimes lets us hang out in her room and use her makeup.

Anyway back to food. For my first ever Crock Pot blog I am choosing something super simple, Crock Pot 101 if you may: Whole Chicken Crock Pot. Simple and to the point. It comes from Food.com, which has a lot of tried and true recipes uploaded by fellow chef's and chefs-to-be.

Whole Chicken Crock Pot. Photo from Food.com

Ingredients

Servings: 4

Units: US | Metric

• 4 teaspoons salt (per recipe reviews, 2 tsp is better)
• 2 teaspoons paprika
• 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• 1 teaspoon thyme
• 1 teaspoon white pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 large roasting chicken (with pop-up timer if possible)
• 1 cup chopped onion (optional)

Mix, rub, and set in the Crock Pot. Easy as that!

Directions:

In a small bowl, combine the spices.

Remove any giblets from chicken and clean chicken.

*(This turned into my own personal "I Love Lucy" moment. I've never cleaned a chicken before and after whining to my husband to do it for me, I was forced to attack the beast myself. Within the first minute of cleaning I had broken off the foot. Thank the Lord I don't have a newborn.)

Rub spice mixture onto the chicken.

Place in resealable plastic bag and refrigerate overnight. (I usually skip this step because I'm always in a hurry).

*(Whoops-missed that step! I just slapped on the marinade and cooked that sucker.)

When ready to cook, put chopped onion in bottom of crock pot.

Add chicken. No liquid is needed, the chicken will make it's own juices.

Cook on low 4-8 hours.

Note: I highly recommend a pop-up timer in the chicken because some crock pots cook faster/slower than others (my crock pot cooks this recipe in 4-5 hours).

*My Note: Mine took nearly 8 hours on low. It is really important the first time you cook a recipe to check on your meal every few hours to make sure it is not overcooking. Your Crock Pot is like a new boyfriend or girlfriend, you need to wine and dine it, ask questions about it, get to know its temperament until you instinctively know how long certain recipes will take to cook in it.

Pros: It was fall off the bone, amazingly flavorful chicken! I threw some garlicky carrots and biscuits on the side and we had ourselves a darn good meal, besides ruining the nerve endings in my thumb (see bottom of blog for details).

Cons: None. Besides the whole washing chicken bit.

Revisions: I think I would try marinading it overnight next time.

Also I have no after photos because I ended up  badly burning my thumb on a baking sheet trying to remove biscuits. For some reason I temporarily forgot that my hand does not have a built in oven mitt.

Baking warrior

But really, the chicken got it so much worse, at least I still have my appendage...