Crock Pot a WHOLE chicken!

I must admit, I was a person who was afraid of cooking an entire bird...I'm not sure exactly if there is an actual reason why....but it always seemed a bit daunting to me...(not to mention I hate leftovers, so I knew there would be a lot of leftovers)

Anyway, my husband loves chicken. He loves buying and devouring rotisserie. But, I always thought about how much sodium was in one of those $5 chickens....so it was time. Time for me to conquer the bird!

First time bird makers...make sure you thaw the ENTIRE bird before you try and get the bag of giblets out...my bird didn't thaw as fast as I wanted it to...long story short...I had to microwave it to get the remaining part of the bag out of the bird...it was a MESS!

Overall, this is a great recipe. I look forward to trying to different spice combinations. My husband was happy (and so were the dogs!) I liked it the night we ate it, but true to form, I didn't enjoy the leftovers...in fact we still have leftovers from it in the refrigerator right now...next time I will need to plan another meal that can use the left over meat....

Chicken Crock Pot

Ingredients

1-2 teaspoons of the following:*thyme
*onion powder
*garlic powder
*paprika
*red pepper flakes
*cumin
*salt
*pepper
And...
*1 sliced onion

Step by Step

1. Mix the seasonings together in a bowl.

2. Rub all over the chicken (and inside of the skin of the chicken)
3. Place all of the onion on the bottom of the crock pot.

4. Place the chicken on top of the onion.

5. Cook on low for 6-7 hours.

No water is needed! I swear! The chicken has enough liquid in it, that you will be fine! Take a look and see what was in my crock pot after it cooked all day....

So in other news, we had a FANTASTIC day at our alma mater...It was Homecoming weekend at Elizabethtown College...so Ryan and I headed back to spend the day remembering the good 'ol days...it was nice to go back and see friends we hadn't seen in awhile and it only took a few hours to make us realize we really aren't as young as we feel! (ugh!) But, here are a few pics from our weekend...

Fall Off the Bone Chicken...made with BEER!

I don't believe I have ever seen my husband inhale his dinner as fast as he did with this recipe. And, it was SUPER easy! (especially since I didn't measure a single thing!)

Dinner is served!

Fall Off the Bone Beer Chicken

Ingredients

*one can of beer (I used light beer)
*Chicken (I used drumsticks)
*fresh cilantro
*PAM spray
A few shakes of the following:
*oregano
*chili powder
*onion salt (next time I am going to use actual onions)
*cumin
*garlic salt
*sea salt and pepper

Directions

1. Spray the crock pot with PAM spray.
2. Pour in the beer and then put the chicken in the crock pot.
3. Shake in the dry ingredients and the fresh cilantro. The picture below shows how the "stuff" was literally just thrown on top of the chicken.

Before cooking...

If frozen, cook on high for 4-5 hours or on low 8-10 hours (I cooked the chicken on low for 8 hours)
If fresh, cook on high for 3-4 hours or on low 7-8 hours

That's it! WOOHOO!

 

The meat literally falls off of the bone, so be careful getting it out of the crock pot. The drippings are to die for as well.

Since I used a "mexican" spice theme, I paired the chicken with spanish style rice and the yellow squash I had. I added some cilantro to the pan when I was cooking the squash. It added it a nice little hint of cilantro taste. And, again, his dinner was gone in less than 5 minutes and he wanted to know if there were any second helpings...

Buffalo Chicken Crock Pot Recipe

EASIEST RECIPE EVER!

Buffalo Crock Pot Chicken

Ingredients

*chicken breasts (fresh or frozen)
*1 c. Frank's Red Hot
*1/2 to full packet of Dry Ranch Dressing Mix

Step by Step

1. Cover the chicken with the ranch dressing mix and the Frank's Red Hot.
2. If fresh, cook on low for 4-5 hours. If frozen, cook on low for 6-7 hours.
3. Shred the chicken and set it on warm for an hour or whenever you are ready to serve it.

Serve alone or as a sandwich....top with Ranch dressing!