I love my crockpot. It saves me on days when I have stuff going on in the evenings, or on those days when I know I’ll be really busy. Most crockpot recipes seem very winterish though, don’t they? I used to never use my crockpot in the spring and summer, but this recipe is really very nice all year round. It’s a great clean eating dinner option!
I also love recipes that can be prepared with ingredients you can always have in the house. This is one of those recipes, and it’s delicious! I buy a big can of orange juice concentrate and it’s enough for four of these recipes. I always keep frozen mixed pepper strips in the freezer, too. If I don’t have the zucchini, I leave it out or throw something else in! I have used fresh peppers and zucchini and it was wonderful. But that makes for a lot more work! Using the frozen makes this a more time-friendly dinner option:)
Summer’s Bounty Chicken & Fresh Vegetables
(from The New Creative Crock-Pot Cookbook by Rival)
Ingredients:
- 6 skinless, boneless chicken breasts
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 1/4 cup orange juice concentrate, thawed
- 1 TBSP honey
- 3 TBSP fresh basil, chopped
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 2 red bell peppers, seeded and chopped
- 2 zucchini, sliced
- 1 14 ounce can pineapple chunks, packed in natural juices, drained
Preparation:
Place the chicken in the bottom of the crockpot and season with salt and pepper. In a small bowl, mix the orange juice concentrate, honey, basil and garlic. Add the peppers, zucchini, and pineapple to the crockpot and pour the orange juice mixture on top. Cover and cook on low 6-8 hours or on high for 3-4 hours. Serve over quinoa or brown rice.
Notes: When I made this for dinner tonight I used 8 thin sliced chicken breasts, dried basil, garlic powder instead of fresh, and frozen mixed pepper strips and squash. I also realized too late that I ran out of orange juice concentrate the last time I made this recipe, so I had to google “What to use in place of orange juice concentrate” and use homemade lemonade instead. I thought it wasn’t quite as good as it usually is, but my husband didn’t seem to notice and commented on how good it was so go figure. It’s a very forgiving recipe!
This is a nice recipe all-year round…It’s a nice change of pace in the wintertime, and a great way to use that crockpot in the warmer weather. It also makes great leftovers, and it’s clean!
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