Slow Cooker Shredded Buffalo Chicken

Shredded Buffalo Chicken in the slow cooker

brings a touch of summer to the cold winter days.

It doesn't take many ingredients- and only a few minutes to throw together in the morning.

Ingredients:

3-4 pounds Chicken (thigh or breast)

1 medium onion, chopped

1 cup chicken stock

3 TBS minced garlic

Red Hot Sauce (to taste)

2 TBS Butter

Place all the ingredients except the butter and hot sauce into your slow cooker.

I forgot to pull out my chicken to defrost so I threw it in frozen

along with my frozen chicken stock-

If your chicken is not frozen that's fine, it will just cook faster.

Melt the butter and stir into about a 1/4 cup of hot sauce.

Coat the chicken with hot sauce butter mixture

(you can adjust this amount depending on how spicy you like your food)

 

Turn your slow cooker on low for 7-8 hours

(8-10 if frozen)

Here is what it looks like after that rock hard chicken starts to thaw and separate

 

If your chicken had bones in it,

pull it out about an hour before the end of cook time to pull out the bones

and then shred the remaining meat.

Serve on a bun with addition sauce if desired,

over rice, as a salad topper 

or place on a roll and melt a bit of cheese on top.

No matter how you eat it...enjoy it!

~eat well, be well

Patty

Cranberry Spread

 

This year on Thanksgiving I was just

dying for some cranberries.

My husband and father in law don't like turkey so I always make ham

and cranberry sauce just doesn't ever seem to fit into the menu.

As a kid though, it was one of my favorite things

about thanksgiving and I don't want my kids to miss out

so I decided to do cranberries- just a little different.

 

No need to boil your cranberries down for hours or buy that

canned gelatinous stuff. a Few fresh ingredients and a blender or food processor

and you can have this ready in about 30 minutes.

 

1 Bag fresh Cranberries

1/4 Cup water

1/4 Cup raw cane sugar

1 apple peeled and chopped

1 orange, peeled 

1/4 cup pecans or walnuts

Place cranberries, water and sugar in a saucepan and bring to a boil

Peel and chop the apple and orange and then add to the boiling cranberries.

Let heat for 5-10 minutes to soften the apple and merge flavors.

Pour hot mixture into your blender or food processor, add nuts

and blend to desired consistency.

Pour into a glass jar, seal and refrigerate.

 

Done. That's it.

I could not help but try some while it was still hot and it was delicious!

I put it in the fridge while we made some homemade waffles though and let it

solidify a bit and used it as a new and AWESOME waffle topping.

My son likes to just eat it with a spoon straight off his plate but I have been

using it regularly as a jelly replacement on toast and it's my new favorite thing.

Plus it tastes so much more like December than strawberry jelly.

Look at it though, it's so bright and happy that just looking at it makes me smile

every time I pull out the jar.

 

 

So go grab some cranberries and try it out!

It would make a great neighbor gift also.

 

~eat well, be well

Patty

 

Sorry for the Busy Month!

  Sorry I have been a little absent lately. 

We have been busy painting kids rooms and rearranging things to

make room for baby #3 and we had a few birthdays to celebrate,

a fun family run 

(my 2 year old ran a mile and my barely 7 year old did her 5K in under 42 minutes!)

teaching lots of classes at the gym the last few months,

family in town all last week,

Thanksgiving to prepare for and enjoy,

family friends visiting this weekend and then our annual

Christmas Tree decorating day yesterday and well...

our meals have been a little boring in the middle of all of that

so I have not had anything super exciting to share.

And I admit that after a super early trip to the airport Saturday morning 

my sweet husband brought home Dunkin Donuts. 

It was our sons first exposure and I am pretty sure he is a fan

but I definitely enjoyed our little naughty family donut moment together!!

But It's Monday and the beginning of December.

I know I will be making some treats for neighbors and baking with my little's 

so I need to make great choices everywhere I can. 

That mean hello shakeology for breakfast!

Super delicious and incredibly healthy.

Seriously, last year when we started drinking it I thought I would hate it.

I had tried all sorts of protein drinks or meal replacements and hated them all except slim fast...

but lets be honest, slim fast does not slim you fast.... 

and it's not even that good of a nutritious meal replacement-

but I digress, the first few days of shakeology I did not like it but 

now I do and my body feels great when I am consistent with it!

So this morning I whipped myself up one with some milk, ice and peppermint extract 

and headed to the basement for a date with Denise Austin.

That's right, no gym for me today.

I have Placenta Previa and my abs have started to split

(leaving me with a crazy triangular baby belly at times!)

Anyway, all of that means if I want to keep teaching my Spinning classes I need to 

back off some of my other workouts so back to basics

and some second trimester toning with my annoying but old friend

Denise (seriously...her voice is crazy- some weird mix of calming, sweet and uber annoying

if you have never had the pleasure of hearing it yourself.)

So, forgive my absence I will try and be much much better this month-

Remember to make good choices and always listen to your body.

~eat well, be well

Patty