SLOW-COOKER CHALLENGE!

SLOW-COOKER CHALLENGE!

I'm so happy to introduce a guest blogger on this holiday Monday, while we're at home huddled under blankets to stave off hypothermia. Meet Kelsey Banfield, blogger at TheNaptimeChef.com and author of The Naptime Chef: Fitting Great Food into Family Life, out in March! Read on about a slow-cooking challenge and awesome giveaway! -@KristenWiewora

Hi Friends! I am here to announce the Slow-Cooker Challenge! Do you like to use your slow cooker to make tasty meals in a convenient fashion? Then this challenge is for you. All week, Big Girls, Small Kitchen, SmallKitchen College and TheNaptime Chef are hosting a slow-cooker challenge featuring meals from bloggers and food news website and we are giving away TWO awesome slow cookers as well as two prize packs of slow-cooking goodies from OXO Good Grips. To enter to win please visit The Naptime Chef, Big Girls, Small Kitchen and Small Kitchen College to read entry details.

 

If you are on Twitter please join us on Wednesday, January 18th from 12pm - 1pm, when we'll be hosting a live twitter chat along with Food52, The Daily Meal, Fine Cooking, Punchfork, Foodily, OXO Good Grips and more. We'll be using hash tag #slowcooker. Tune in to talk all things slow cookin'! During the Twitter event and throughout the day we'll be offering a bonus giveaway of amazing OXO Good Grip tools that are essential for slow-cooking valued at over $150!

On Thursday, January 19th we'll be slow-cookin' all day on Facebook: you can enter to win a second prize pack of OXO Good Grips kitchen tools by uploading photographs of your slow-cooked meals to The Naptime Chef fanpage, Small Kitchen College fanpage or Big Girls, Small Kitchen fanpage.

To get you started with your own slow-cookin’ this week, here is a great recipe for low-fat slow-cooker lemon thyme chicken. This is the perfect dish for a whole family and will even help you hold on to your New Year’s resolutions just a bit longer. Come join the fun and get slow-cookin’!

Low-Fat Lemon Thyme Slow-Cooker Challenge

¼ cup olive oil

Zest and juice of 2 large lemons (reserving the rinds)

4 large garlic cloves, minced

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts, (on the larger, denser side)

Kosher salt

Freshly cracked pepper

8 sprigs fresh thyme

1. Mix the olive oil, zest and juice, and minced garlic together in a small mixing bowl and pour it into the bottom of a large slow cooker, about 5 or 6 quart.

2. Pat the chicken breasts dry and place them in the slow cooker, turning them once through the olive oil mixture. Then sprinkle both sides of chicken with large pinches of kosher salt and cracked pepper. Nestle the chicken breasts snugly into the bottom of the slow cooker. Tuck the sprigs of thyme between and around the chicken breasts.

3. Cut one of the lemon rinds into eighths and nestle them around the breasts.

4. Place the lid on top of the slow cooker and cook on high heat for 3 hours. Check the inside of one of the breasts to make sure they are cooked through: the juices should run clear. The cooking time might vary a bit based on the slow-cooker and density of the chicken breasts. If they need to cook longer do it in 15-minute increments. 

Follow Kelsey on Twitter! @TheNaptimeChef