something for your slow cooker...

if you're a regular reader, you know my aversion to recipes with ridiculous ingredients. you also know that i have big plans for preparing some freezer meals pre-baby. so in preparation for this freezer meal making and sticking with my "easy ingredients meals", i've been reading a cookbook called "The Big Cook" which gives you every recipe in "one meal", "4 meals", "6 meals", and "8 meals" measurements. The concept is that you make many meals at once, separate into bags and freeze. when you want a meal, you thaw a bag, and then put in a slow cooker (or there are oven instructions too) to be ready for dinner. i'm planning on making a bunch of meals by the end of august to stock my freezer with - it's just a lot of money up front for all that meat.

anyways, i love that they have the ingredients for making just ONE meal because then you can use the book like a normal cookbook as well. the other day, i made "Saucy Chicken" which is super easy, i HAD all the ingredients on hand, AND by making it at nap time and putting it in the slow cooker, it was ready at dinner! i'm making it again today - here's the recipe if you're interested and have simple tastes like mine:

2 lbs chicken (breast or thigh)pieces (last time, I used 1 lb of chicken but the full amount of sauce - this time i'm using 2 lbs so i can have leftovers but i doubled the sauce because it's great on rice)

3 Tbsp water

1/3 cup brown sugar

1/3 ketchup

2 Tbsp. vinegar

1 Tbsp. worcestershire sauce

1 pkg or 3 Tbsp onion soup mix (i buy mine in bulk)

Cut chicken into pieces and put in slow cooker. Mix all other ingredients in bowl and pour over chicken. Cook for 4-5 hours on high OR 6-8 hours on low. Serve over rice. Can also be stir-fried with veggies.