Slow-Cooker BBQ Chicken

I've been working behind the fine jewelry counter at Macy's to help make ends meet until I can find something full time. I actually like it. Retail really isn't what I want to be doing, but as far as retail goes, I do like getting to play with diamonds and sapphires and gold and pearls. Especially when it comes to helping men pick out gifts for their ladies. But that's beside the point. Though I've left my availability pretty much open with Macy's, I tend to get scheduled for the closing shifts because that's what they need the most. I don't really mind it, except that it makes spending time with hubby in the evenings hard. I still try to get something together for dinner when I can, even if I can't be there when he gets home.

That's where the appeal of this meal comes in. It's really more of a technique than a recipe, but I do think it's worth blogging about because it is so easy, so versatile, and so yummy.

First, to keep the chicken from getting soggy, put a few balls of aluminum foil on the bottom of your crockpot (I added more after taking this picture). Then, to keep the chicken moist, pour in some chicken broth.

Next, prepare the meat. I'm using a whole chicken. Remove as much of the skin and fat as you can. If you leave it on there, dinner's going to be really greasy, so it really is best to get off as much as possible.

This step attracted some sad, starving critters.

After that, I seasoned the meat with some chicken rub.

Then I put the chicken in the crock pot. I put it in breast down, since the breast is the most vulnerable to drying out.

And I stuffed the cavity with an apple. Here it is.

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I'm not posting a picture of it stuffed in the bird because it was just too hard to get a picture of it, but it's not hard to imagine, is it? I just stuffed as much of the apple in the cavity as I could.

Finally, grab some BBQ sauce. You could make your own, or you could just use what you have.

I went ahead and dumped about 2 cups worth right on the chicken.

Then put a lid on it and walk away!

I have it set to "high" in this picture, but it really should be on low.

I wasn't going to be home when hubby got home and was ready to eat, so I set out some packets of BBQ sauce and wet wipes for him.

When I finally got home after my shift and put my own plate together, I was pleased with the way it turned out.

The chicken was falling off the bone, which made it really messy, but it was very tender and didn't require a knife. As for the apple, I didn't touch it because I thought the texture was kind of icky, but it was nice to boost the flavor of the chicken with it. But the chicken was moist and delicious.

And just wait until you see what I did with the leftovers!

Thanksgiving Post #2: Apple Crumb and Pecan Pies

I’m going a little out of order and skipping to the pies. It’s what you all wanted to read about next, anyway, right?

Pie #1: Apple Crumb Pie

I had an apple pie recipe that I’ve made before that I really wanted to do again. This year, though, I wanted to up the ante and make my own pie crust. I’ve always bought the pre-made crusts from the store and they’re always just okay. This year, I figured I’d finally buy a pie plate and suck it up. So I did. I underestimated the process, though.

Start off with a ton of flour, shortening, a touch of sugar, and a good amount of salt. I used butter instead of shortening. Blend it up with a pastry cutter until crumbly. In reading those directions, I decided to soften my butter first. I read later than you’re not supposed to do that. Oops.

In another little bowl, mix an egg with some water.

Blend it into the flour mixture. I really, really wished at this point that I was using my kitchenaid mixer. Gooey floury dough is such hard work to beat, but honestly I didn’t want to get more dishes dirty. I’d already made enough of a mess!

The recipe makes dough for 2 pies (though I had to find this out by scouring the reviews, because the recipe itself, very helpfully, says “32 servings”). I divided the dough into two balls and chilled them in the fridge.

I suppose that I envisioned just smooshing the dough into my pie plate. Luckily, I decided to do a google videos search and learned about proper pie crust making technique, so I didn’t completely screw this up.

I love this non-stick roller. I bought it when I lived in small-town Pennsylvania and had invited friends over to help me make Christmas cookies before realizing that I didn’t own a roller. I then scoured my town’s stores before finally finding this. I hadn’t intended to spend so much on such a simple tool, but I guess it’s been worth it. Anyway, as with anything else you’d roll, put flour everywhere.

The google videos I saw said to spread the dough out so that it went a good 2-3 inches beyond the plate. In retrospect, my plate has such a big lip that this wasn’t really necessary, but whatever. Apparently rolling dough in an even circle is much harder than it sounds.

Getting the dough into the plate was much harder than expected. It was heavy but delicate, so I used the roller to help me out. Not perfect, but not bad for my first time.

Trim the edges with some kitchen shears. For some reason, I thought that part was really fun!

I beefed up the edges by blending in some of the dough that I snipped off. I also ate some. I was shocked to realize that it was not sweet like cookie dough, which I apparently thought I was working with. Still yummy. I wrapped my pie shells in plastic and put them in the fridge until the next day, when it was time to make pies.

Now for the filling.

I sliced up 6 apples very thinly. Sprinkle on some lemon juice.

Make a mixture of white sugar, flour, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Forget to take a picture of it. Just go on and dump it in your apples, tossing it as if it’s salad. Make sure the camera is on the wrong setting so that it appears dark and weird.

Spoon the apple mixture into your pretty homemade crust. The first year I did this, there were far too many apples for the store-bought crust, and I sent hubby (boyfriend at the time) to the store for another one. He was very happy about this (not). That’s when I learned that the apples shrink in the oven so it’s okay to heap them in there. Less of an issue with my deep pie plate.

Next, mix up some flour and brown sugar. Cut in butter and blend with that wonderful pastry blender. I used a butter knife before I had this thing.

And just sprinkle it all on top of the apples.

Cover it with foil and bake for 25 minutes, then remove the foil and bake for another 25 minutes. Then remove the pie and stand over it, inhaling deeply and fighting the urge to update your facebook status to brag about how amazing this pie smells/ looks.

Pie #2: Pecan Pie

This one is hubby’s specialty. He did this one all on his own, as he always does. According to his mom’s recipe, cream butter and sugar together. Then add karo syrup.

Add eggs one at a time, beating after each addition.

Hubby used to do this by hand, but he’s discovered that doing it with the mixer makes for a fluffier filling. At this point, add salt and pecans.

Pour it in my pretty crust. Because this will be in the oven for an hour, uncovered the whole time, I fashioned a crust shield with some foil to keep the crusts from burning to a crisp.

It worked!

Honestly, my presentation of the pies on plates sucked that night. It was like scrambled pies, so I didn’t bother with pictures. The next day, I tried again, and I did much better.

Delicious. Here is the crust recipe, and this is the apple crumb pie recipe. Pecan pie recipe will be in my tastebook at some point.

Apple Crisp

So many of my friends have been talking about apples lately. Seems like everyone's going apple-picking, then turning their produce into applesauce and apple pie and apple crisp. I felt left out and decided to join in with store-bought apples. Coincidentally, I saw honey crisp apples at the grocery store the other day. I had never heard of them until I read a blog post by a friend that has moved to the South and desperately misses her New York apples… until she found these. I figured they must be good so I picked up a bunch.

I made apple crisp a week or two ago. It was my first apple crisp ever, and I didn’t have the time or patience to really devote to searching for a great recipe. I settled for one that was easy and had good reviews. I thought it was decent, but nothing special. It used white sugar instead of brown, though, and just didn’t seem to have enough topping. Since I still had some apples left, I thought I’d give it another shot and work a little harder to make it a delicious apple crisp.

I started off with slicing the apples as thinly as I could. They seemed a little crunchy in last week’s attempt, and I thought this might help.

This recipe is definitely different. It called for pecans and walnuts in a food processor.

They sure look different all chopped up.

I didn’t follow the recipe exactly. I thought a “dash” of cinnamon and nutmeg were nowhere near enough, so I did a 1/2 tsp of cinnamon and 1/4 tsp of nutmeg. And rather than sprinkling them on the apples and baking them for a little while, I put them in with the brown sugar and flour. Mainly because I failed to read the directions.

I dumped the mixture in the food processor with the nuts and blended it up. Then I turned to my butter. It said to add “diced butter.” I had never diced butter before. It was surprisingly fun. Clean cuts, didn’t stick to the knife, somehow very satisfying material to slice up!

When I added this to the mixture in the food processor, it took on the consistency of very course, wet sand.

It was pretty strange to spoon it on over my apples. Couldn’t shake the feeling that I was spooning stuff from my childhood sandbox onto my apples, making pretend food.

If I’d read the directions thoroughly, I’d have baked the apples for a little while first. Oh well. Baked them now!

Not a great picture, and I admit, I played with the “brightness” and “contrast” scroll bars because it was originally kind of dark, but does it show you how good this smelled?

Or tasted?

I guess not. Too bad. It smelled and tasted pretty amazing. Just saying.

Recipe in Tastebook soonish!