Chicken with 40 Cloves of Garlic

This picture does not do it justice... I wish I was a photographer!

I had found this recipe on one of my favorite cooking blogs, The Crepes of Wrath, a while ago and made this once before in my pre-blog days. I was immediately attracted to it because, HELLO 40 CLOVES OF GARLIC!! I love garlic, I love chicken, it seemed to me to be a match made in heaven. This recipe was apparently originally made in the oven, not the Crock Pot, but thankfully there are experimental chefs that made it Crock Pot worthy. It was really, really good and surprisingly not that garlic-y. The thyme and rosemary flavors were much more prominent. The gravy you make with the juices and the resulting roasted garlic are so good. I added some of the roasted garlic to mashed potatoes and it was perfect! I also made my tried and true green bean recipe that you can find in this post. 

And I know I have been slacking majorly in updating my blog and I could tell you it was because I have been really busy and doing end of the school year things and travelling the world, but it's mostly because I have been lazy... woops! But I want to get back into the blogging groove. Also, Happy Easter! I am currently making a spinach dip in the crock pot for my families Easter dinner... I hope it turns out! 

First, Here are the ingredients:

40 cloves of garlic= about 3 bulbs. and I guess you are supposed to use cooking white wine?! But I didn't know what/where that was. I would NOT recommend Sea Ridge wine for drinking... not that I am a connoisseur or anything... but it was not... good. It worked for cooking though!

Oh and clearly I forgot to take a picture of the chicken too, wow. I also just wrote "chicken" down on my grocery list and you are supposed to buy a "fryer chicken" (I also didn't know what that was...) I used boneless skinless chicken breasts which worked fine. And if you are wondering a fryer chicken is when all the pieces of a whole chicken are taken apart for you already and packaged nicely. I would buy a fryer chicken next time I made the recipe.

mmmmmm

First you peel all the cloves of garlic. I had some little Crock Hunter minions to help me with this one... Here is an easy video on how to peel garlic cloves. The Crepes of Wrath blogger linked to this youtube video and I found it very helpful. 

Heat up your olive oil and add the garlic cloves to the pan. Cook them for 5-8 minutes until they are golden brown and add the white wine. Stir until almost all the liquid has evaporated, about 5 minutes over medium heat. 

While you are doing this you rub your chicken with salt and pepper and place the pieces in the bottom of the greased crock pot. (I never remember to buy Crock Pot liners! I really want to try them.) 

Pour the liquid over the chicken and sprinkle the thyme and rosemary on top. You are also supposed to add a bay leaf but I didn't have any. Cook the chicken on low for 3-4 hours. After it is done, remove the chicken and cover it with foil while you make the gravy. 

mmm

Pour the juices from the Crock Pot through a sieve (or tiny colander if you are like me and not fancy enough to have a sieve.) Then you press the garlic through the sieve, or tiny colander, into the pot of juices to make sort of a garlic paste.

pretend like this is a really great picture.

Cook the juices/garlic mush mix with butter until thickened. This should take about 5-8 minutes. 

I really need to work on my picture taking skills... where is Sholeh when I need her!

Serve the gravy sauce juices mix over the chicken and mashed potatoes (if you make them!). The gravy was SO GOOD and really made the whole thing delectable. Like I said earlier, I used some of the extra roasted garlic to make garlic mashed potatoes and they were very good! 

This was definitely a hit and I will make it again!

Crock Pot Chicken with 40 Cloves of Garlic

Crepes of Wrath

Ingredients:

• 3 1/2-4 pound fryer chicken (chicken cut into serving pieces)
• salt and pepper, to taste
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 40 cloves of garlic, peeled but still whole (about 3 bulbs of garlic)
• 3/4 cup white wine (optional, but highly recommended)
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 tablespoon butter

Directions:

1. 1. Spray the inside of your crock pot with non-stick spray. Rub the chicken generously with salt and pepper. Place in the crock pot.
   2. Heat your olive oil in a small skillet and add the peeled, whole garlic. Cook for 5-8 minutes over medium heat until the garlic is golden, then add the white wine and stir until the liquid has mostly evaporated, another 3-5 minutes over medium heat.
   3. Pour the garlic and white wine over the chicken in the crock pot, and sprinkle the thyme and rosemary over everything. Add in the bay leaf. Turn the crock pot to low and cook for 3-4 hours (I did mine for 3 1/2 hours). When ready, remove the chicken and place on a separate platter, then cover with foil to retain its heat. Set aside.
   4. Pour the juices from the pot through a mesh sieve into a pot, then press the garlic through the sieve to form a paste. Cook the gravy with a tablespoon of butter over medium-high heat until slightly thickened, about 5-8 minutes. Serve over the chicken with potatoes, vegetables, or crusty bread and enjoy! Serves 3-4

Cannellini Minestrone

yum!

I have been SLACKING on my blog postings... and I made this soup when it was really rainy and it was going to be great for people in cold weather like me... but now its beautiful outside and this is irrelevant but I will post it anyways because it was REALLY GOOD. I have had minestrone soup from a can a few times, but never home made or even at a restaurant. This was really yummy and I paired it with a grilled cheese and it made the perfect rainy day meal! oh and once again this was from my Crock Pot Recipe Collection cookbook! 

AND exciting news!! My blog officially has over 1000 views :)

Ingredients:

honestly, I was a bit nervous about all the veggies and kale but it was yummy!

The actual steps are minimal, but there is a lot of chopping which is why I enlisted the help of my little minion clare...

peeling carrots is fun!

Basically all you do is put all the ingredients into the crock pot except the pasta and stir it all up! Cook it on LOW 6-8 hours or HIGH 4-6 hours. I let this go basically all day on "keep warm" and it turned out fine!

The recipe calls for escarole and I have no idea where you buy this/never have heard of it but thankfully to the wonders of technology I was able to google alternatives while in the grocery store and discovered that kale can be used as well! In the recipe it says to cut it into "ribbons" so i just did long strips??? Not sure if this is correct but I just kinda ate around them. By day 2 they sort of crumbled up and were easier to eat. 

after cooking for many hours!

Once it is done, you add the ditalini pasta and stir, cooking for 20 minutes before serving. Sam and I thought that using only 2 ounces of pasta was too little so we may or may not have thrown in half the box... this made it VERY pasta-y and less soupy because the noodles absorbed the water. Overall this was so good and once again, the leftovers were amazing! 

Sam made her world famous grilled cheese and it was a delectable meal! 

isn't this cute?? thanks Lee Price for sponsoring the flowers :) 

Cannellini Minestrone

Ingredients: 

• 4 cups chicken broth
• 1 can (14.5 ounces) diced tomatoes, undrained
• 1 can (12 ounces) tomato-vegetable juice (um why is this 1) so expensive and 2) not come in individual cans... I had to buy a giant economy sized one since the single v8 cans were like 6 bucks! no thanks.)
• 2 cups escarole, cut into ribbons
• 1 cup chopped green onions
• 1 cup chopped carrots
• 1 cup chopped celery 
• 1 cup chopped potatoes
• 1/4 cup dried cannellini beans, sorted and rinsed (I just bought a can of cannellini beans and threw them in... it was fine)
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh chives
• 1 teaspoon chopped fresh flat leaf parsley 
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 2 ounces uncooked ditalini pasta

Directions:

1. Place all ingredients, except pasta, in 5 quart Crock Pot slow cooker. Stir well to combine. Cover, cook on LOW 6-8 hours or HIGH 4-6 hours.
2. Add ditalini and stir again. Cover; cook 20 minutes before serving.

Makes 6 servings