Slow cooked Chicken Provencal

I cook from scratch, love it and have discovered since breaking my finger,three months and still in a splint I was destined to have personal sous chefs! Chris and Paige have been great choppers,dicers and peelers, so I can still keep my hand in and cook. I may continue this routine hehe!! 

We do more food planning so that all my ingredients are chopped the day before and then I can cook at leisure,pan lifting is a bit tricky so my slow cooker has been on the side permanently. Its really helped with the heat of summer an unexpected bonus, we have been  eat a great cooked meal without melting from the heat of the oven.

 I reviewed the Tefal slow cooker http://given-to-distracting-others.blogspot.co.uk/2013/08/judge-slow-cooker-review.html

I have had great success with it, my best question and find was Can you cook bread in a slow cooker? The answer was a very successful yes!! Look out for the giveaway to win one!
http://given-to-distracting-others.blogspot.co.uk/2013/08/slow-cooker-bread.html

Back to this weeks recipe I so waffle, I have been reviewing more products to make life simple designed for busy cooks not just broken digits. The latest is the Just Add range herbs and spice in an easy tube,I love them, they have a three week shelf life if refrigerated,I am already half way through the garlic in a week.

Just Add removes the fiddly task of chopping when cooking meaning that you can simply reach for the squeezy tube or one shot sachet to add your desired taste sensation, which includes: Garlic, Chili, Basil, Ginger and Coriander. They are perfect for a fuss free, flavorsome supper across a range of cuisines, for example, the Coriander is great in curries and stir-frys and the Ginger makes a delicious marinade. Available from Tesco Asda, Waitrose and Ocado
http://www.justadd.me.uk/

I used the Just Add Garlic and Basil for this slow cooked chicken, its a lovely alternative to snipping leaves or crushing garlic and stringy ginger.The basil especially had a lovely fresh aroma and in  the finished dish it was very evident.

To make a Slimming World Chicken Provencal, just use fresh garlic and basil.
I made this a rather herby chicken,feel free to omit or add herbs of your choice,most  of the recipes start as a certain dish then I tinker!

Do not be alarmed by the size of the dish above I doubled up my recipe,as I was taking some to London for my Mum and Dad.



Serves 4
Ingredients

1 red pepper, cut into large chunks
1 green pepper, cut into large chunks

1 onion sliced

450 grams chicken breast or thigh
400g tin chopped tomatoes
1 tbs tomato purée
1 tsp Just Add garlic
1 tsp Just Add basil

A few sprigs of fresh thyme

Black pepper

Method

Fry the chicken if you want to but I did not this time as using breast pieces. It tastes the same either way and saves even more time.

The method again is very simple,place all ingredients in your slow cooker and cook on low for 6 hours!

Disclosure Just Add sent me the Garlic, Basil and chill range to try. I received no other payment,my views are my own.

Very Lazy Chicken Chasseur

I recently cooked a beef stir fry using Very Lazy ingredients. If you have somehow passed them by they are a fabulous company that tries to cut out all the mundane parts of cooking.

They actually work very hard despite the name to take the tedious, messy and sometimes smelly work of dealing with ingredients. So your garlic is ready crushed as is your ginger, Lemongrass is pureed and anybody who has had to prepare any of these three know how tough it can be to chop and crush an inch of ginger etc. The ingredients are all in handy jars, and tubes so easy to store and dip into whenever you need one.

They have recently gone a little further with their help and created a range of cokoing concentrates that use natural ingredients and provide the base for a lovely super fast meal.

I tried out the Chicken Chasseur and was impressed, I make my own and its usually an afternoon of prepping and cooking, well worth it but I am struggling to find time to even eat a dinner let alone cook one.

With this recipe its a case of chopping chicken breast, onion and gathering some button mushrooms. 

You also add a tin of chopped tomatoes in with the sauce, apart from that you just need to cook the chicken and onions, for five minutes,add all the other ingredients, 

Pop in the jar of  Chicken Chasseur  and leave it to simmer for 15 minutes.

Then serve up with a potato dish of your choice and a side vegetable too.

It tasted good, made me feel I had cooked a real heartwarming stew but without all the hours of faff and oven cooking.
I will be trying some of the other concentrates soon too. I have my eye on the Very Lazy Thai Curry jars.

The concentrates can be bought online or in Tesco's

www.verylazy.com

 Disclosure I was given a free product. I was under no obligation to receive the sample or talk about this company. I get no additional benefits for talking about the product or company.

Green Slime Eyeball Pasta with Fiery Hell Sauce

This is a gruesome Halloween recipe hot from the menu of Very Lazy who have kindly sent me some ingredients to use in the next week. I am thrilled so far as its saving me so much time.

Back soon to share my review, in the meantime why not give this little dish to your spooky little trick or treaters!!

Green Slime Eyeball Pasta with Fiery Hell Sauce

Serves 2

Ingredients 

1 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp Very Lazy Chopped Garlic

2 tbsp Very Lazy Chopped Chilli

400g tin chopped tomatoes

10 cherry tomatoes

100g (about 20) mini mozzarella balls, drained

4 basil leaves

200g fresh green tagliatelle

½ jar pesto

Method

1.      Start by making the tomato sauce. Fry the garlic and chili for 30 seconds in the olive oil. Add the tinned tomatoes and simmer for 5-10 minutes, until thickened.

2.      Meanwhile, halve the cherry tomatoes and use a small, sharp knife to remove the seeds. Stuff each half with a mozzarella ball. Cut the smallest circles you can from the basil leaves and place one at the centre of each mozzarella ball.

3.    Boil the pasta according to packet instructions. Once done, drain then stir through the pesto and divide between 2 shallow bowls. Spoon over some tomato sauce, then arrange the stuffed tomato eyeballs on top.