Tuesday is gymnastics night at our house for The Big Kid and The Sassy One. It generally ends up being a family affair, as one or both of them usually pleads, "I want everyone to come," in a voice that I really kind of hate, but can't really refuse, because what am I supposed to say? "No, I don't want you to value your family and enjoy having us all do activities together!" So, on Tuesday, I try to do a plan-ahead or a slow cooker kind of meal.
This Tuesday was especially chaotic. Immediately after school we had parent teach conferences (3:30). I picked up The Sassy One to go home and finish dinner, while our Man of the House collected Tiny Little Cashew & The Big Kid. All converged at home to refuel and reset, change clothes, etc. Gymnastics for Sassy started at 5:15. Tonight Big Kid would skip gymnastics to go to his wrestling camp again at 6:15. I had the privilege of hauling Cashew along for the ride so our Man could help coach Big Kid in his camp. Not a down moment, and even less so than usual.
Tonight's meal was from the Holiday Food & Family: Slow Cooker Cheesy Chicken & Potatoes. I did a quick chop last night of the peppers and used the mandoline to slice the potatoes. Can I just say that a)I'm getting much better at using that thing, on a very basic level (I still can't handle all the waffle-fries, julienne-crazy masterpieces, but hey I had evenly sliced potatoes!), and b)I really want one of those nifty kevlar glove thingies instead of that awkward food holder.
I hadn't taken the chicken thighs out of the freezer early enough, so I there was no way I was going to pry them out of the package, let alone get their skins removed (yes, I could've bought skinless-bone-in, but I just get what's on sale and use it later). I was kinda worried that the potatoes would get that gross greyish color that potatoes get sometimes when they aren't used right away, so I poured the cream of chicken soup (if one can pour condensed cream of chicken soup) on the potatoes and peppers and spread it out kind of as a barrier.
I left the potatoes and what-not in the crockery and the chicken on the counter to thaw for the night.
In the morning while the Man of the House was helping the small people get breakfast, I skinned the thighs and plunked them into the cooker.
When I got home tonight, I followed the recipe directions (except I didn't use a slotted spoon....or fresh parsley). It was a hit. The Man and I decided that the sauce needed a bit of kick. I added smoked paprika, about triple the Worcestershire and some red pepper flakes. It was yum. The Big Kid ate well. The Sassy One did ok, but we had to rush him off to gymnastics so he didn't eat as much as I would've liked.
It says to cook for 6-8 hours. By virtue of our schedule today it was more like 8-10. Dialing back the time would've been good for the potatoes, but overall, it was a great meal. We'll definitely repeat this one, and while the long cooking might make it hard to make it pretty, it was definitely good enough for leftovers tomorrow.
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