Crock Pot Chicken And Vegetables

This is one of those throw it in a pot meals for busy days. It’s also a good recipe if you’re feeling just plain lazy and don‘t want to stand over the stove. Either way, it’s hearty and comforting.

You’ll notice in this photo that I’m lazy enough to use paper plates. I don’t care who knows - I won’t apologize - I’m not at all sorry for it.

Crock Pot Chicken With Vegetables

You will need:

* It goes without saying, you’re going to need a crock pot.
* A skillet and some light olive oil and butter for browning the chicken.

Ingredients:

* 3-4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts
* 3-4 carrots, sliced diagonally in thirds
* 3-4 medium russet potatoes, cut in fourths
* 1 medium onion, chopped
* 1 teaspoon dried rosemary (fresh rosemary is even better)
* 1-2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
* salt and pepper to taste
* ½ tablespoon - olive oil
* ½ tablespoon - butter
* 1 tablespoon - flour (enough to make a roux)
* A good quality chicken stock or broth

Directions:

* I like to brown the chicken in equal amounts of olive oil and butter before putting it in the crock pot because it makes it look pretty and appetizing, and the pan juices make a very tasty gravy. Sure, it’s healthier to just use the olive oil to brown the chicken, but if you add a little butter, it’ll brown better and prettier. It’s obvious I like my food to be pretty, because I use that word a lot when I talk about food.
* Because vegetables take longer to cook in a crock pot, go ahead and place the veggies in the bottom of your pot. Sprinkle with a little salt and pepper; top with rosemary and chopped garlic cloves.
* Place your browned chicken breasts on top of the veggies; sprinkle with a little salt and pepper.
* Add some flour to the pan you browned the chicken in and cook over medium high for about a minute, scraping the brown bits on the bottom of the pan (This is your roux) You may need to add a little more oil and butter.
* Start adding a little chicken broth to this until you’ve got your gravy the way you like it; turn your heat down! And now you have your gravy.
* Pour your pan gravy all over your chicken breasts; add more broth if you need to, to cover the tops of them. Don't over do it with the broth, because it's going to produce a lot of liquid while cooking. Cover with the lid and cook on high for an hour, then cook on low for about 6 more hours. If that time isn’t feasible for you, just cook on low for about 8 hours. You can also cook this on high for 4 hours. Try not to cook boneless breasts longer than that. Trust me, you won’t like the results. Be sure not to open the lid while it's cooking. But if you must, add about 20 minutes or so to your cooking time.

NOTE: When this is done, you’ll notice the pan gravy that you poured over the chicken has gotten very watery by now. If you prefer thicker gravy, follow the steps you followed in making your pan gravy.
Here’s a good guide:

½ Tablespoon - unsalted butter
½ Tablespoon - light olive oil
1 Tablespoon - flour
1 cup - broth

* Cook the oil and butter with the flour on medium-high heat until the flour has cooked to the point it’s browning a little; Add about a cup of the broth from the crock pot to that and stir until it’s smooth. If you feel like taking in a few more calories and fat grams, you can add a little cream to the mixture, but I usually don’t because I’m trying to watch my boyish figure you know.