Hawaiian Barbecue Pulled Chicken Sandwiches

I think the only thing possible better than pulled chicken barbecue is pulled chicken barbecue that cooks by itself all day long in the slow cooker with pineapple and onion and a jar of spicy barbecue sauce that you forget about until you walk in the door at the end of the day and smell pulled chicken barbecue that is already cooked and ready to eat.

Did you get all that?

Good, because every word is true.  But don't take MY word for it...haul out that slow cooker that I know you have somewhere and try it for yourself.  As I write this I am keeping an eye on the thermometer, which is inching its way up towards 90 degrees.  And when it is THAT hot out, there is nothing and nobody who can make me turn on my stove or my oven.  But the slow cooker...that's another story.  Because it cooks low and slow, whatever you pop into it is tender and wonderful, and your kitchen stays cool.   Summer is for salads and slow cookers...and this recipe is as easy as it gets.  Toss some nice big boneless chicken breasts into the cooker, along with a can of drained chopped pineapple, some onion, and a jar of your favorite bbq sauce.  (For this recipe, I like a sauce that is more on the tangy spicy side, since you have a sweet flavor coming from the pineapple.)  Now go away and frolic in the 90 degree weather for a while.

When you come back, your chicken will be tender enough to shred into delicious bite size pieces...shred it all up, then return it to the liquid left in the slow cooker and mix it all up.  Now what I usually do next is this: put a pile of soft hamburger rolls in a basket by the slow cooker, along with a pitcher of warm bbq sauce for anyone who likes a little extra on their sandwich.  Then stand back and let the hungry crowds build their own.

Summertime!!

Hawaiian Barbecue Pulled Chicken Sandwiches, from Tasty Kitchen

• 3 pounds boneless chicken breasts
• 1 onion, peeled and cut into chunks
• 1 20 ounce can pineapple chunks, drained
• 1 bottle bbq sauce, 18-20 ounces.
• Hamburger rolls
• Extra bbq sauce for topping

1. Place chicken in slow cooker.  Top with onions, then pineapple, then pour the whole bottle of bbq sauce over the whole thing.

2. Cook on low setting for 8-10 hours.  About an hour before it is done, carefully remove chicken from crockpot, shred it, and then return it to the cooker and stir so it can absorb some of the sauce as it finishes.

3. Serve on hamburger rolls with extra bbq sauce on the side.

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Brisket Slow-Cooked in Coffee and Brown Sugar

I think I may have said this once or twice or one million times before on this blog, but I wish I liked coffee.  I really do.  It is SO much easier to get a cup of coffee than to find a decent cup of hot, strong English breakfast tea unless you happen to be in the middle of London, and I am usually in the middle of New Jersey, so this is a problem for me.  I've tried to like coffee, just for the pure convenience factor, but I just....can't...do it.

However, I DO (for some mysterious reason) like coffee when it is an ingredient.  Usually that means in ice cream, or in muffins, or other sweet stuff.  But in this case, I like it in a brisket recipe.  Whatever the hours and hours of cooking in the slow cooker do to transform the coffee, the sauce comes out not tasting like coffee, but like some rich, tangy, wonderful thing that you can't quite put your finger on.  (Spoiler alert: it's the coffee.)

For all you slow-cooker fans out there, this one is right up your alley.  Toss a brisket and some chopped carrots and baby potatoes and quartered onions into your slow cooker.  Mix up a sauce of tomato paste, Worcestershire sauce, brown sugar and (you guessed it) coffee and pour it in there, stirring things up so the sauce is generally all over everything, and about half the veggies are on top and the other half are on the bottom.  Cover the slow cooker, press the "LOW" setting button, and go do something else for about 8 hours.  

Now come back, slice the brisket into thin slices, put it on the plate with some veggies and pour that rocking great sauce all over the whole aromatic, tender, fabulous thing.  Have tea with dessert.  Feel all smug for liking coffee and tea at the same time.

Slow-Cooked Brown Sugar and Coffee Brisket, adapted from Real Simple

• 1 medium onion, peeled and quartered, stem end left intact
• 1 pound new potatoes (about 12)
• 1 pound medium carrots, cut into 2 1⁄2-inch lengths
• 2 1/2 pounds beef brisket, trimmed
• kosher salt and black pepper
• 1 6-ounce can tomato paste
• 1/2 cup brewed black coffee
• 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
• 2 tablespoons packed light brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

1. Season the beef with 1 teaspoon salt and ¼ teaspoon pepper and place in the bottom of a 5- to 6-quart slow cooker.  Add the onion, potatoes, and carrots.
2. In a small bowl, whisk together the tomato paste, coffee, Worcestershire sauce, and brown sugar; pour over the beef and vegetables.  Stir things around just a little until some of the sauce reaches the bottom of the pot.  Cover and cook on low until the beef and vegetables are tender, 7 to 8 hours.
3. Slice the beef across the grain and serve with the vegetables and sauce, sprinkled with the parsley.  

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Overnight Oatmeal

I think I am overdue in terms of singing the praises of one of my very favorite kitchen appliances, which is my beloved, faithful, trustworthy slow cooker. I've had the same slow cooker for years and years now - it's a basic Rival Crockpot model - and I've made everything from the best beef barley soup in the world to a really incredible chocolate pudding cake and a lot of stuff in between. There's nothing quite like the feeling you get when you toss a bunch of stuff in the crockpot in the morning, go out to work, and then come home hours later to a house that smells like heaven and the glorious knowledge that dinner is already made!

Most of my crockpot recipes are dinner-oriented (well, except for that cake. Which I would happily eat for dinner, but that's just me.) This oatmeal recipe also makes a fantastic comfort food dinner recipe, but it's my only crockpot recipe that is perfection for breakfast. Here's how it works, and why I adore it so much.

First of all, you must use steel-cut oats - none of those regular rolled Quaker Oats for this recipe. Steel cut oats are those hard little round oats - they look like teeny little pebbles and you will wonder how on earth they are going to turn into anything edible, but have faith. You toss them into your trusty slow cooker with some water, a little half and half and some dried fruit. I used dried cranberries and chopped up dried figs, but I think probably anything you have around will work just fine - raisins, dates, etc. Set the slow cooker for 8 hours on low, and go to bed. The next morning you will wake up to an unbelievably amazing aroma of sweet and creamy oatmeal. It has slowly cooked away all night long, and the fruit has somehow broken down and blended into the oats, giving the whole thing a wildly delicious, comforting, sweetly creamy texture. No additional sweetener is needed - just warm up a little milk and grab your favorite bowl.

Take hold of a spoon, close your eyes and dig in. It's comfort food extraordinaire, and you may never go back to those little oatmeal packets ever again.

Overnight Oatmeal, from Alton Brown

• 1 cup steel cut oats
• 1 cup dried cranberries
• 1 cup dried figs, cut in quarters
• 4 cups water
• 1/2 cup half and half

1. Combine all ingredients in a slow cooker and set on low. Cover and cook for 8 hours.

2. Stir and scoop into bowls. Pour warm milk over each serving.

Click here for printable recipe

Pumpkin Slow Cooker Soup

Okay, so 'tis the season!  And by that, I mean Pumpkin Season:  Pumpkin Pie, Pumpkin Bread, and let's not forget Pumpkin Pie Cookie Bars, one of my first and best posts on this little blog.  But out of all of these, there's nothing quite like a warm, thick, delicious pumpkin soup, made from an actual pumpkin.

Now if I am being perfectly honest, that is one of those little decorative pumpkins from our local farmer's market, but he was just so dang photogenic that I had to take his picture.  He's not what you want for this scrumptious soup...for the soup you want a sugar pumpkin, which are actually not that hard to find in your garden-variety supermarket at this time of year.  Pick out a nice medium-sized one.

The next trick is to get someone else to cut up that pumpkin into nice little chunks.  I have a handsome Southern husband that I draft for this sort of stuff - it's definitely the hardest part of the whole recipe.   You cut the stem off as you would if you were carving it into a jack-o-lantern, and scoop out those seeds.  You'll want to save them to make toasted pumpkin seeds, which make the perfect garnish for this soup once you are ready to serve it.  Once your sugar pumpkin is hollowed out, then you need to chop it into smallish chunks - two inches or so - making sure you slice or peel the outside skin off. 

Once you have a nice pile of peeled and chopped sugar pumpkin, it's all downhill from here.  You give the pumpkin a quick saute with some chopped onion just to get the outside brown and then pile that pumpkin into your handy slow cooker, and pour in enough chicken broth to cover it up.  Toss in a little cheesecloth bag of spices and go find something else to do for five hours or so.

Back to those pumpkin seeds - at some point while your soup is cooking away, take those pumpkin seeds and toast them up...the very best recipe I have found is the one from Elise at Simply Recipes.  Don't skimp on the salt - it will seem like a lot but I promise it's not.  Here's the link:

Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

Fast forward five hours: your pumpkin is nice and soft.  Now ideally you have one of those hand-held immersion blenders - if you do, just lower it right into the slow cooker and blend away until the soup is smooth and creamy.  (Make sure you take out the bag of herbs first.)  If you don't, just ladle the pumpkin and broth into your handy regular blender - I KNOW you have one of those - and blend away.  Stir in a little cream, ladle it into bowls and sprinkle a little cinnamon on top.  And some pumpkin seeds.  Voila - it's pumpkin soup time!!

Pumpkin Slow Cooker Soup, from allrecipes.com

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 medium sugar pumpkin, seeded, peeled and cubed
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 3 cups chicken stock, or more as needed
• 1 sprig each fresh rosemary, thyme and sage
• 2 cinnamon sticks
• 2 bay leaves
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• Cinnamon for garnish

1. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat.  Add pumpkin and onion and saute until lightly browned (you may have to do this in batches).

2. Transfer to slow cooker and pour in enough chicken broth to cover the pumpkin. Tie all the herbs and spices into a piece of cheesecloth and add to slow cooker.  Cover and cook on low for four hours.

3. After four hours, remove herbs and puree the soup with a blender.  Stir in heavy cream.  Ladle into bowls and garnish with cinnamon and toasted pumpkin seeds.

Click here for printable recipe.