Chicken Parmesan in a Crockpot

The minute I saw this recipe, I was intrigued. It also helped that one of B's favorite dishes is Chicken Parmesan. Make your husband's favorite dish in a crockpot with minimal effort? Score!

To make this dish, you need the following ingredients:

First mix together the spices and dry ingredients including 1/2 cup breadcrumbs, 1/4 cup shredded Parmesan cheese, 1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning, 1/4 teaspoon black pepper, and 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt (I just had plain white salt - so common), like so:

Then take 1 tablespoon olive oil and spread it at the bottom of the stoneware of your crockpot. Or, if you are me, create an eclipse like effect as so:

Meanwhile, in another bowl beat one egg with a fork. Note that you will use this bowl and the dry ingredients bowl to dip the chicken into so make sure you have room:

Dip each chicken breast in the egg bowl and then the dry bowl until completely covered and then place in the bottom of your crockpot:

Then cover the chicken with slices of mozzarella. I may have gone a bit overboard with the cheese:

Finally, add one jar of your favorite sauce:

Then cook on low for 7 hours and serve over your favorite pasta. I chose plain ol' spaghetti although, secretly, I am a mostaccoli girl. How do you even spell mostaccoli? My husband likes spaghetti so I went that route.

Verdict:

B didn't like it because the breading wasn't crunchy and the cheese was all "goopy." I didnt mind the cheese or lack of breading, however, the overall taste was lacking.

Things I learned:

• I still really don't like salt and I keep tasting it in everything. I am going to stop adding it.
• I like my sauce a bit sweeter (thanks Mom!) so when I make another dish with sauce, I will add some molasses (double thanks Mom!)
• Cheese will melt and just blend in with the sauce if you cook it for 7 hours
• I like cheese a lot!
• Some things are better done the old-fashioned way rather than in a crockpot

Tell me:

Do you have a good Chicken Parmesan recipe?

It's a Hit! Asian Shredded Beef in the Crockpot a/k/a I Will Eat Anything with Chow Mein Noodles

Since today was Valentine's Day and I *love* my husband, I decided it was guinea pig day and that we needed to try a new dish in our crockpot rotation. Isn't that what love is all about, experimentation?

Not so much in this house, but I crossed my fingers and hoped for the best. And it was good. Very, very good.

Taken from my favorite food blogger, The Crockpot Lady, I went with:

A Year of Slow Cooking: Slow Cooker Asian Shredded Beef Recipe

These are the ingredients you need. I used an almost 4 lb roast. We have plenty left over.

First you need to plop your roast in the pot like so:

Then add 2 teaspoons of garlic powder and 2 teaspoons of Chinese 5-spice. Add to that 6 tablespoons of ketchup and 6 tablespoons of honey. Then on top of that add 1/2 cup soy sauce and a 1/2 cup of hoisin sauce so it looks messy like this:

Set the crockpot to low for 8 hours. After 8 hours, cut up the roast in big chunks and turn to high for another hour. Then the roast will shred so simply with a fork like so:

Okay, maybe not the most attractive picture, but you have to trust. I served it with white rice and chow mein noodles. So beautiful:

Verdict:

B said this was really good. I liked it, but felt it was a bit salty and needed a bit more flavor.

Things I learned:

I really don't like salt so I may either get a half sodium soy sauce next time or cut the amount in half

I like things with a bit of kick so I am looking for an ingredient to slightly spice this up

I may either add more honey or some brown sugar next time for a bit of a sweeter taste

Chow mein noodles rock (but I already knew that)

Shredded beef is more than just for sandwiches

Tell me:

Any thoughts on what I could use to sweeten and/or spice this dish up?