Lemon Pesto Chicken

If you're a regular blog follower of mine, you know that I love to cook chicken in the crock pot. It's such a easy, no fuss way to cook chicken that always turns out great. In fact, I rarely use my crock pot for anything other than chicken. So, I come to you with yet another crock pot recipe. I hope you don't mind.

This recipe is so simple, but sounds so fancy. I love those kinds of recipes, don't you? When I say simple, I mean really ridiculously simple. All the ingredients (except for the chicken itself) are pictured right here:

Why are lemons so pretty in pictures?

I mixed the chicken with the pesto and lemon juice in a separate bowl before putting it all in the crock pot. Looking back, this was silly. I didn't need to get that extra bowl dirty - I should have just mixed it all right in the crock pot.

Add a few extra lemon slices and the red onion on top, pour in a little water, and set.

6 hours (on low heat) later...

Wine + salad (and a constant remind that we REALLY need to get to sanding and finishing this table of ours).

Mushrooms and cherry tomatoes were sautéed until tender and tossed with some shell pasta. The chicken was served on top, but this was by no means crucial to the dish. The chicken would be great by itself, or over plain pasta, marinara pasta, couscous, rice, or any other type of grain. 

Completed dish.

Dinner is served!

Lemon Pesto Chicken Recipe

Serves 4

- 4 small to medium chicken breasts

- 3 tablespoons pesto (we used classico brand, but home made or another brand would work fine too)

- 2 lemons (one for juice, and one sliced into 1/4 inch rounds)

- 1/2 red onion, sliced into 1/4 inch half moons

- 1/2 to 1 cup of water

Directions:

- Place the chicken in the crock pot.

- Put the pesto and the juice of one lemon onto the chicken and toss to coat.

- Place the lemon and red onion slices on top  of the chicken.

- Pour enough water in the crock pot to cover the bottom and almost cover the chicken breasts (see picture above).

- Cook on low heat for 6-8 hours, or high heat for 4 hours.

- Let cool and serve over your favorite pasta or grain.

Slow Roasted Pork Chops with Spring Root Vegetables and Pearled Barley

If you haven't already figured it out, I like to keep out grocery bill to a minimum each week. I'll share my full grocery store strategy some other post, but the quick and dirty is this: shop the sales! Instead of listing specific things to purchase at the store (except for the necessities - i.e. toilet paper, eggs, milk, etc), I list groups of things that I know I can make meals from. Vegetables, fruit, dairy, proteins, grains, etc. My favorite way to juggle this kind of "fly by the seat of your pants" way of shopping is to stop by the protein sections first. Once you pick your protein for a meal, you can build a vegetable and carbohydrate to go with it quite easily.

This particular recipe came from one of those planned, but un-listed grocery store trips. I stopped by the meat section, and these beauties were looking fresh and cheap! $3.62 for 1.21 pounds of lean pork - can't beat it! So, I thought to myself, "what could I do with these chops if they were to come home with me"? You see, I'm not particularly fond of pork chops. They often end up dry and flavorless. But, the trusty crock pot always does an amazing job - I knew I could figure something out with these babies.

So, I bought the pork chops. When I got home, I seasoned them with salt and pepper.

Then, I seared both sides to get a nice golden browning.

I opened up the fridge and pulled out a bunch of veggies.

Then, I layered veggies and golden brown pork chops into the crock pot.

I added some pearled barley (can't get enough of this stuff these days)!

Some seasonings went in - rosemary/sage, and old bay seasoning.

A little water to keep things moist during the slow cooking process.

And... 6 hours later! A wonderful one-pot-wonder.

Although I cheated and added some skillet cornbread and a little kale to the plate.

Slow Roasted Pork Chops with Spring Root Vegetables and Pearled Barley Recipe

Serves 3-4

- 1.5 pounds lean pork chops (thick cut work best)

- Salt/pepper to season the chops
- 2 tbsp olive oil

- 2 medium carrots

- 2 stalks celery 

- 1 small onion

- 3 cloves of garlic, minced

- 5 to 6 radishes

- 10 small button or baby bella mushrooms
- 1 to 2 cups of water
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp of dried rosemary (fresh would work well too!)
- 1/2 tsp dried thyme (fresh would work well too!)

Directions:

- Season pork chops with salt and pepper on both sides.
- Heat the olive oil in a heavy skillet on medium-high
- Once the oil is hot, place the pork chops in the skillet and cook for 2-3 minutes on each side. You'll be looking for that nice golden color.
- Wash and chop the carrots, celery, onion, garlic, radishes, and mushrooms. You'll want everything but the garlic to be about the same size.
- Layer the carrots, celery, and onion in the bottom of the crock pot.
- Place the pork chops on top of the first layer, and add the remaining veggies and garlic on top.
- Sprinkle in the pearled barley, salt, rosemary/thyme, and add the water.
- Add enough water so that the pork chops are partially submerged.
- Set the crock pot on low for 6 hours or high for 3-4 hours, stirring occasionally.
- Serve with corn bread or crusty bread.