Rediscovering an ignored cookbook

Tangy Pineapple Chicken
Better Homes and Gardens Biggest Book of Slow Cooker Recipes Volume 2

1 tablespoon cooking oil
2 pounds, skinless, boneless chicken thighs, cut into 1-inch strips
1 20-ounce can pineapple tidbits (juice pack), drained
1 large red sweet pepper, chopped
½ cup bottled barbecue sauce
¼ cup clean Italian dressing
2 teaspoons dried oregano, crushed

1. In a large skillet, heat oil over medium heat. Cook chicken, half at a time, in hot oil until brown. Drain off fat.
2. Place chicken in a 3 ½- or 4- quart slow cooker. Top with pineapple and sweet pepper. In a small bowl combine barbecue sauce, Italian salad dressing, and oregano. Pour mixture over chicken in slow cooker.
3. Cover and cook on low-heat setting for 5 or 6 hours or on high-heat setting for 2 ½ to 3 hours.
Makes 6 servings.

Per serving: 314 cal, 12g fat, 121 mg chol, 436 mg sodium, 20g carbs, 2g fiber, 31g protein
_________________________

I had sort of put this cookbook (and Volume 1) to the side. I did make a couple of minor successes from them, and one slight but not brutal disappointment. Sometimes a cookbook may not excite me at one point in time, but then I rediscover it later, which is what happened here. I realized these cookbooks had several boneless, skinless chicken thigh recipes. I wasn't interested in recipes for those when I first bought these books but now I'm very interested.

I thought this was going to be an 'eh' recipe but I found it very pleasing after all. Although my red pepper was a bit bitter. I find that to be the case with colored peppers (besides green) every now and then. They are generally milder and sweeter than green peppers but I often get colored peppers with a strange bitter taste. It didn't ruin the dish but I would prefer not to have that taste in my peppers. You could even use a jar of pimientos in this recipe.

This is not Asian at all - I'm not sure why I went with ramen and egg rolls. It just seemed like the right thing to do and it worked. I made it a couple of days ahead of time. I think this is one of those recipes that benefits from being made ahead of time.

So right now I'm stoked about using chicken thighs in the slow cooker. One thing that has never worked for me is chicken breasts in the slow cooker but I may go back and replace chicken breasts with chicken thighs in the chicken breast recipes I used to ignore.

I'll add this to my boneless, skinless chicken thigh recipe round-up.

Question of the Day: Do you know what I mean by that funny taste colored peppers can get or am I the only one experiencing this?