Easy and Awesome Freezer Meal:

Coconut Curry Chicken

My Crockpot is a close second to the most important thing in my home! I enjoy cooking and making new dishes, but I hate the time and the cleanup that comes along with it.
So naturally when Pinterest came about and all these awesome crock pot recipes started surfacing, my level of Betty Crocker-ness shot through the roof!

I have tried just about every slow cooker recipe out there, and there are some that are GREAT and then there are some that are...... m
                               e
                                    h.

Now, I love FLAVOR! 

I savor the taste of peppers and spices and meat and well, just about anything that will slap me across the face with it's bold delicious flavor. If a meal is bland, I want to gag. Plain and Simple. I really just hate bland food. You get my point? If not I'll say it 1 more time..... I HATE BLAND FOOD!
However, a lot of the "frugal" slow cooker meals out there are just that.... BLAND.

Until I came across my now absolutely FAVORITE dinner!!

Slow Cooker Coconut Curry Chicken found from Kristy over at the Sweet Treats and More blog . 

I seriously love this dish so much I just had to share it! And I have found that this makes an excellent freezer meal!! So yummy, so fast and so EASY!

Now a lot of my friends and family tell me they hate anything curry; and I will admit curry is definitely an acquired taste. I remember the first time Brett took me out to authentic Indian cuisine a few years back, I was far from impressed. But after a few more times learning my way around the flavors and dishes that I like I have come to LOVE Indian Cuisine; and don't even get me started on Naan..... I heart Nann!!!!

And Kristy over at Sweet Treats and More had a similar experience... *note her hubbs name is Brett too!

"The first time I ever tasted curry was shortly after Brett and I got married; our friends talked us in to trying a Thai restaurant that was nearby and happened to be open late.  I was skeptical- I had never tried Thai or curry, and the fact they were open late made me wonder if they were desperate for business?  But we gave it a try.  Our friends told us exactly what to order–a couple of different curries with rice and noodles.  And we loved it! " 

- Kristy

Slow Cooker Coconut Curry Chicken -- Serves 6

Ingredients

2 lb boneless skinless chicken breasts or chicken thighs, cut into cubes

5 large carrots, peeled and diced

1 medium onion, peeled and quartered

2 cloves garlic, peeled

1 large bell pepper, seeded and chopped (I used a green pepper)

1 (5 oz ) can tomato paste

1 (14 oz) can coconut milk

1 1/2 tsp salt

1 tbsp curry powder

1 tbsp garam masala

1 jalapeno, seeded and halved OR 1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes

2 tbsp water

1 1/2 tbsp cornstarch

Instructions

Grease your slow cooker with Pam. Place the chicken and carrots on the bottom of slow cooker.

Place the rest of the ingredients (except water and corn starch) in a food processor or blender and process together until mixture is mostly smooth. ***If your food processor is too small to hold everything, use a blender.

Pour the sauce over the chicken and carrots, mix well, then cover and cook on low for about 6 hours.

An hour or so before serving, mix cornstarch and water together in a small bowl until cornstarch is dissolved. Pour mixture into the slow cooker, stir to combine, and continue cooking for another hour. **This will thicken up the sauce. When the sauce is to your desired thickness, turn slow cooker to warm setting until ready to serve.

Notes

*if you want you can chop the bell pepper into larger pieces and place in with the chicken and carrots rather than processing into the sauce. This is what I did and we loved the different textures of the carrots, chicken, and pepper in the sauce.

Serve over rice, with Naan, and garnish with cilantro.

____________________________________

Now here are some things I do to adapt it to me and my family:

• I love to freeze this meal! And the first time I made this dish, I found that it makes a lot of sauce. So I like to make the sauce and divide it in to 2 freezer bags. I then throw in the chicken and carrots and freeze it. But if you have a bigger family, you can just do the 1 bag and just add more chicken. When ready to cook, pull out of freezer and let it sit at room temp for 30 min. Then put it in the crock pot and cook on low for 6 hours.
• Kristy mentioned how she likes to cut the bell pepper into chunks instead of processing it in with the sauce. I like to do both. Puree the bell pepper into the sauce and leave out a bit of chunks too. I love the flavor the pepper brings to the sauce, and I use a red bell pepper not green. *Just a hint though, if you DO puree your bell pepper into the sauce you DO NOT need to thicken the sauce with cornstarch like it mentions above. You can if you want, but it's not necessary; the pepper adds just the right amount of thickness.
• When I make this a freezer meal, I use chicken breasts (the pre-frozen ones in the big bags). Then about an hour or so before I am ready to serve I take my kitchen shears and I cut the breasts into chunks and let them finish cooking.
• Now like I said I LOVE flavor, but throat burning heat? Not so much. And because I am also feeding a toddler, I leave out the jalapeno. This makes the dish a lot more mild on the heat scale. So instead I put in the crushed red pepper flakes. My 2 year old loves it!!
• and FINALLY, you can find the Garam Masala in the spice isle. I thought it was going to be some crazy thing that I was going to have to pay tons for and hunt around store to store to find it. But nope, it was right there with all the other typical spices. 
• Also, here is the link to my favorite Naan recipe!

I hope you all are brave enough to give this dish a try, I know you will LOVE it just as much as we do. Seriously, we have eaten it 4 times in the last month! And if you do, leave me a comment telling me how you liked it?!

Coconut Curry Chicken

My Crockpot is a close second to the most important thing in my home! I enjoy cooking and making new dishes, but I hate the time and the cleanup that comes along with it.
So naturally when Pinterest came about and all these awesome crock pot recipes started surfacing, my level of Betty Crocker-ness shot through the roof!

I have tried just about every slow cooker recipe out there, and there are some that are GREAT and then there are some that are...... m
                               e
                                    h.

Now, I love FLAVOR! 

I savor the taste of peppers and spices and meat and well, just about anything that will slap me across the face with it's bold delicious flavor. If a meal is bland, I want to gag. Plain and Simple. I really just hate bland food. You get my point? If not I'll say it 1 more time..... I HATE BLAND FOOD!
However, a lot of the "frugal" slow cooker meals out there are just that.... BLAND.

Until I came across my now absolutely FAVORITE dinner!!

Slow Cooker Coconut Curry Chicken found from Kristy over at the Sweet Treats and More blog . 

I seriously love this dish so much I just had to share it! And I have found that this makes an excellent freezer meal!! So yummy, so fast and so EASY!

Now a lot of my friends and family tell me they hate anything curry; and I will admit curry is definitely an acquired taste. I remember the first time Brett took me out to authentic Indian cuisine a few years back, I was far from impressed. But after a few more times learning my way around the flavors and dishes that I like I have come to LOVE Indian Cuisine; and don't even get me started on Naan..... I heart Nann!!!!

And Kristy over at Sweet Treats and More had a similar experience... *note her hubbs name is Brett too!

"The first time I ever tasted curry was shortly after Brett and I got married; our friends talked us in to trying a Thai restaurant that was nearby and happened to be open late.  I was skeptical- I had never tried Thai or curry, and the fact they were open late made me wonder if they were desperate for business?  But we gave it a try.  Our friends told us exactly what to order–a couple of different curries with rice and noodles.  And we loved it! " 

- Kristy

Slow Cooker Coconut Curry Chicken -- Serves 6

Ingredients

2 lb boneless skinless chicken breasts or chicken thighs, cut into cubes

5 large carrots, peeled and diced

1 medium onion, peeled and quartered

2 cloves garlic, peeled

1 large bell pepper, seeded and chopped (I used a green pepper)

1 (5 oz ) can tomato paste

1 (14 oz) can coconut milk

1 1/2 tsp salt

1 tbsp curry powder

1 tbsp garam masala

1 jalapeno, seeded and halved OR 1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes

2 tbsp water

1 1/2 tbsp cornstarch

Instructions

Grease your slow cooker with Pam. Place the chicken and carrots on the bottom of slow cooker.

Place the rest of the ingredients (except water and corn starch) in a food processor or blender and process together until mixture is mostly smooth. ***If your food processor is too small to hold everything, use a blender.

Pour the sauce over the chicken and carrots, mix well, then cover and cook on low for about 6 hours.

An hour or so before serving, mix cornstarch and water together in a small bowl until cornstarch is dissolved. Pour mixture into the slow cooker, stir to combine, and continue cooking for another hour. **This will thicken up the sauce. When the sauce is to your desired thickness, turn slow cooker to warm setting until ready to serve.

Notes

*if you want you can chop the bell pepper into larger pieces and place in with the chicken and carrots rather than processing into the sauce. This is what I did and we loved the different textures of the carrots, chicken, and pepper in the sauce.

Serve over rice, with Naan, and garnish with cilantro.

____________________________________

Now here are some things I do to adapt it to me and my family:

• I love to freeze this meal! And the first time I made this dish, I found that it makes a lot of sauce. So I like to make the sauce and divide it in to 2 freezer bags. I then throw in the chicken and carrots and freeze it. But if you have a bigger family, you can just do the 1 bag and just add more chicken. When ready to cook, pull out of freezer and let it sit at room temp for 30 min. Then put it in the crock pot and cook on low for 6 hours.
• Kristy mentioned how she likes to cut the bell pepper into chunks instead of processing it in with the sauce. I like to do both. Puree the bell pepper into the sauce and leave out a bit of chunks too. I love the flavor the pepper brings to the sauce, and I use a red bell pepper not green. *Just a hint though, if you DO puree your bell pepper into the sauce you DO NOT need to thicken the sauce with cornstarch like it mentions above. You can if you want, but it's not necessary; the pepper adds just the right amount of thickness.
• When I make this a freezer meal, I use chicken breasts (the pre-frozen ones in the big bags). Then about an hour or so before I am ready to serve I take my kitchen shears and I cut the breasts into chunks and let them finish cooking.
• Now like I said I LOVE flavor, but throat burning heat? Not so much. And because I am also feeding a toddler, I leave out the jalapeno. This makes the dish a lot more mild on the heat scale. So instead I put in the crushed red pepper flakes. My 2 year old loves it!!
• and FINALLY, you can find the Garam Masala in the spice isle. I thought it was going to be some crazy thing that I was going to have to pay tons for and hunt around store to store to find it. But nope, it was right there with all the other typical spices. 
• Also, here is the link to my favorite Naan recipe!

I hope you all are brave enough to give this dish a try, I know you will LOVE it just as much as we do. Seriously, we have eaten it 4 times in the last month! And if you do, leave me a comment telling me how you liked it?!