It seems that ever since I got home from vacation, I have been running around frantically, unable to get caught up. I’ve been busy with work and busy at home. As a result, I haven’t had a lot of time (at least, not as much as I would like) to spend in the kitchen. On Monday, I had an all day meeting at the office (typically I work from home), so I decided to pull out the crock pot so that dinner would be ready when I got home. I often forget about using the crock pot during the warmer months of the years. Mine typically only gets used for soups, stews, and winter casserole dishes. I think I will be using it more often now, though. It’s so perfect for busy weeks!
Fortunately, I had seen a package of split chicken breasts on sale at the grocery store over the weekend. Although I made this before the start of the Penny Pinching Pantry Raid Challenge, I was already thinking in that frame of mind. A great way to save money on chicken is to buy it still on the bone. Boneless skinless chicken (at least at my grocery store) is often close to $5.00/pound. The split chicken breast on sale was only $1.49/pound! You can often buy a whole roaster chicken for even less, but neither my husband nor I really enjoy eating the dark meat, so I prefer to buy the split breasts.
I bought close to six pounds of chicken. I cooked about half of the chicken in the crock pot, and individually wrapped the remaining pieces to put in the freezer. Of the chicken that I cooked on Monday in the crockpot, I had plenty for dinner plus more than ehough for another dish the next evening. That’s less than $2.25 per meal on meat. I was happy with that.
Ingredients:
3 split chicken breast halves (approximately 3 pounds)- 2 russet potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
- 4 ribs celery, cut into chunks
- 4 carrots, peeled and cut into chunks
- Kosher salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 1/2 cup white wine
- 1/2 teaspoon of dried thyme
Directions:
It doesn’t get much easier than this!
Place the vegetables in the bottom of the crock pot. Season with salt and pepper. Remove the skin from the chicken breasts, and place on top of the vegetables. Season the chicken with salt and pepper. Pour the white wine down over the chicken and vegetables, and sprinkle the chicken with the dried thyme.
Cover with the lid and cook for about 8 hours in the crock pot. The chicken should be cooked to 165°F.
Cut the chicken off of the bone and serve on a platter with the vegetables. Any leftover chicken can be saved in the refrigerator for easy meals another night of the week!
Oh, the crock pot. It is probably one of the best things invented since sliced bread. You can do a lot with this machine. My mother and I don’t use it during the summer much unless we make some chicken in a tomato basil sauce (which is off-the hook when it’s done in the crock pot because it’s fork tender when it’s done) and serve it with some spanish saffron rice. Other than that, we usually use it during the winter for pulled pork, soups, stews and things of that nature.
This is definitely another recipe that is going in my binder especially because of the flavor that it has. Thyme just makes the greatest difference in any poultry dish, which is one of the greatest reasons that I love using it so much (that and oregano).
And great job having your head in the challenge before it even began!
Great post!
Isn’t the crock pot wonderful? Whoever invented it is a genius. A genius I tell you!! You definitely got a bargain on those split chickens. Nice!
Oh man, you’ve reminded me of my crockpot…I am going to have to bust it out for some upcoming meals! This is perfect for the PPPR – cheap meals that make a ton of food! :-)
I love crock pot cooking. Your recipe looks fantastic!!!
Crockpot is something new to me… will definitely read up on it. The chicken looks amazingly delicious with all the veggies to add the right colour and balance.
vat a colorful chicken dish will all the vegies. yuumm looks heavenly delish. always love Crockpot cooking.
Just put this in my crockpot. I added fresh rosemary to my veggies. I was just trying to think of something to do with the chicken I got on sale last week. Thanks for posting this recipe!
Should crockpot setting be High of Low??? Just prepared but you don’t specify setting… Thank you…