Healthy Mama BBQ Chicken: Crockpot & Freezer Friendly

Earlier this year I bought my very first ecookbook.  It takes up no space and is available wherever my computer or smart phone go --- which is, one or the other, always with me.  I think I may be in love.  It's this one from Mama and Baby Love and the cookbook is well worth your money.  It's chocked full of healthy freezer friendly meals!

This happens to be the first recipe I made of hers and it was delicious!  Can I tell you that I stretched two chicken breasts into four HUGE meals (1 dinner, 2 people + 1 lunch, 2 people) for my family.  You should try this one too!  And can I say... I'm stoked that the recipe made 2 big bags for my freezer... because one is waiting on me when I want to do nothing after this busy holiday season ahead!!

Healthy Mama BBQ Chicken - from this ecookbook

Ingredients (Makes 2 meals!)

3 medium unpeeled sweet potatoes, cut into 1/2 inch pieces

2 large green pepper, cut into strips or cubes

1 large red pepper, cut into strips or cubes

2 zucchini, chopped (I omitted because I forgot to buy it!)

2 cups chopped onion

2 tablespoon quick cooking tapioca (or some other thickening agent)

2 pounds chicken thighs or drumsticks (I used 2 chicken breasts per bag because it's what I had on hand)

2 15 oz cans of tomato sauce

4 tablespoons packed brown sugar

2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

2 tablespoons ground yellow mustard

2 garlic cloves minced

1 teaspoon salt

2 gallon freezer safe bags

My suggestion for days like these is to prepare several freezer friendly meals together.  It takes half the time as it would if you prepared them individually.  I find it easier to gather recipes with similar ingredients, but perhaps different sauces or spices.  Stephanie's recipes are loaded with veges - one thing I love about her!  Spend your time chopping vegetables once - this minimizes your time washing dishes, utensils and cleaning up.  At the beginning of December, while these were in the oven, I was chopping vegetables for this recipe and one more (stay tuned tomorrow, but you'll see sneak preview pictures today!)

Pull out the big cutting board and chop your vegetables (sweet potatoes, peppers, onion, zucchini, and garlic).  I ended up using 4 sweet potatoes because mine were on the smaller side.  Chop them into 1/2 inch chunks.

In a separate bowl, combine tomato sauce, brown sugar, Worcestershire sauce, and ground mustard.  Whisk until combined.  I found it easier to mix everything together for the sauce in a separate bowl than try to split all the liquids into each bag individually.  Then once I got the sauce mixed, I then poured half of it into each bag.

Here's a good shot of the size of the sweet potatoes.  Split the remaining ingredients (sweet potatoes, red and green peppers, zucchini, onion, garlic, the tapioca, and a few shakes of salt) between two freezer bags.  Side note: I thought I took a picture of the quick cooking tapioca, but apparently I didn't.  I found it on the baking aisle near the Jello pudding.  It's just a thickener and I thought it might make the texture of the sauce weird, but it was unnoticeable.

Four meals took me *maybe* 20 minutes to get together.  Have I convinced you to start freezer cooking yet??

Flatten out bags and remove as much air as possible.  I, for lack of a better term, squished all the ingredients around together to make sure everything was well incorporated.  Label. (High for 3 - 4, Low 6 - 8 hours) Freeze.

The night before you want to cook this meal, put it in the refrigerator and let it thaw a little.  Put it in your crockpot the next day and let it do it's thing.

 When it's done, I remove the chicken, shred it, and return it to the sauce.

You can serve it as is, over rice, cous cous or any other grain.  And most importantly, enjoy!

p.s.  I made this again recently and made some changes that I thought worked better:
1) I cubed the chicken into a semi-small dice before putting it in the crockpot.  This way I didn't have to do anything with it once it was done cooking.
2) About 5 minutes before serving I stirred in a can of rinsed and drained garbanzo beans, just to warm them through.  We really liked this addition because it added some texture to the dish.
3) I also added some carrot "coins" - I chopped 2 whole, peeled carrots into 1/4" rounds and added them in.  They lend some sturdiness to the dish (originally we thought it was all pretty much the same texture dish). The sweet potatoes, zucchini, peppers and onion get pretty soft during the cooking process, but having the carrots and garbanzo beans were a fabulous addition!
4) I used a can of tomato puree (because I couldn't find a can of tomato sauce) and forgot to use the tapioca.  So, if you want to skip the tapioca step you can.  Just use the tomato puree and it comes out just fine.

The Verdict

I was so impressed by this meal.  From the amount of vegetables (even more if I would have remembered the zucchini!) to the little amount of chicken to the sweet barbecue sauce made from scratch.  This hearty dish was mild and subtly sweet in flavor.  The sweet potatoes gave it a nice bit of texture and touch of sweetness.  Next time, for our family, since we like it a little tangier - I'd probably add more Worcestershire and less brown sugar to the sauce.  We all enjoyed this tasty and easy recipe.  Add any vegetables or chicken you like or have on hand for a little variety!  Make it vegetarian by skipping the chicken and bulking it up with an alternate source of protein - such as chickpeas - or serve over quinoa for that extra protein punch. (Without the chicken I'd cook it High 2 -3 or Low 4-5, checking at the minimum time to see if the sweet potatoes were done.) I am SO excited to have another bag on hand in our freezer.  My parents are coming up for a visit after the holidays and I will be putting my second bag to good use then.  Yum!

Hope you and your family have a wonderful, safe and relaxing holiday season filled with lots of good food, family, and love.  Merry Christmas from Our Greene Home to yours!!