Thursdays Are For Cooking

| April 16, 2020

This one comes from Betty C’s kitchen, and I love lemon chicken, so the easier it is to fix it, the better. We’re still having cold weather in my kingdom, so serving this with a rice dish on the side, along with a good veggie side dish and a salad is real food for real people. In light of the news this morning that Pres. Trump is suggesting that all 50 state governors can think about “opening” up for normal business again in the near future, I’m hoping that he’s not jumping the gun. But it is a positive step. Maybe we’ll have a nice spring, after all.

And while I’m at it, if you don’t have even a small 5.0 cubic foot freezer like I do, you should get one against the possibility that we’ll see another downturn. It helps a lot to buy in bulk, wrap and freeze chicken and beef and pork for future use, and to stock your pantry and cupboard shelves well ahead of any possible shut downs. The only thing I don’t have enough of is ice cream….

Slow Cooker Lemon Pepper Chicken

Ingredients

3 tablespoons butter

8 bone-in skin-on chicken thighs (2 ½ to 3 lb total)

1 teaspoon lemon pepper

½ teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons finely chopped garlic

1 cup Progresso™ (or other brand) chicken broth (from 32-oz carton)

2 teaspoons grated lemon peel and 2 tablespoons lemon juice (from 1 large lemon)

2 tablespoons cold water

2 tablespoons cornstarch

Cooked white rice, if desired

Directions:

1 – Spray 3 1/2- to 4-quart slow cooker with cooking spray.

2 – In 12-inch nonstick skillet, heat 1 tablespoon of the butter over medium-high heat. Season chicken with 1/2 teaspoon of the lemon pepper and the salt. Place half of the chicken thighs skin-side down in skillet; cook 4 to 5 minutes or until skin is golden brown and chicken releases easily from surface. Turn chicken over; cook 2 minutes. Repeat for remaining chicken.

3 – Layer chicken thighs, skin-side up, inside slow cooker; sprinkle with garlic. In 2-cup measuring cup, mix chicken broth, lemon peel, lemon juice and remaining 1/2 teaspoon lemon pepper; pour over chicken thighs. Cover and cook on Low heat setting 3 to 3 1/2 hours or until chicken is tender (at least 165°F).

4 – Remove chicken to serving platter; cover and keep warm. In small bowl, mix water and cornstarch; beat with whisk into cooking juices in slow cooker. Cover and cook on High heat setting 20 to 30 minutes or until slightly thickened and bubbly around edges. Stir in remaining 2 tablespoons butter. Serve sauce with chicken and cooked rice.

Expert Tips

If desired, garnish with fresh slices of lemon or chopped Italian (flat-leaf) parsley.

Add a green vegetable side for a complete meal.

It might be tempting to skip browning the chicken thighs before adding to your slow cooker, but we promise it’s worth the effort.

For more slow-cooker tips check out Betty’s Five Slow-Cooker Commandments.

Photos by Ex-PH2

Category: Economy

35 Comments
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AW1Ed

Sounds great, Ex. Thanks! Chicken thighs are the way to go- skinless, boneless breasts need a LOT of help.

USAF E-5

I use the boneless skinless for fried chicken sandwich on toasted sandwich rolls. Wife and I have them with tomatoes, onions, salt and pepper.

Graybeard

I had this queued up for the bread-thread, but I’ll share it now: Crusty White Bread From the Betty Crocker Cookbook, twentieth printing, 1973, Copyright 1969 2 packages active dry yeast 2 cups warm water (105 to 115°) 2 tablespoons surgar 1 tablespoon salt ¼ cup salad oil (I use Canola) 6 to 6.5 cups all-purpose flour Dissolve yeast in warm water in a large mixing bowl. Stir in sugar, salt, oil, and 3 cups of the flour. Beat until smooth. Mix in enough remaining flour to make dough easy to handle. Turn dough onto a lightly floured board or surface; knead until smooth and elastic (8 to 10 minutes). Place in a greased bowl; (I rub Canola oil all over the bowl with a paper towel.) Brush top of dough with salad oil. Cover with a kitchen towel (NOTE: it will get oil on it!) Let rise in warm place until double (about 45 minutes.) (Dough is ready if an impression remains when you poke it.) Punch down dough; divide in half. Roll each half into an 18×9 inch rectangle. Roll up, beginning at short side. With side of hand, press each end to seal it. Fold ends under the loaf. Place seam-side down in a greased loaf pan 9x5x3 inches. (Note: I rarely use a loaf pan, but put the loaves on an insulated cookie sheet.) Brush loaves with salad oil. Let rise until double, about 1 hour. Heat oven to 400°. Bake about 35 minutes or until loaves sound hollow when tapped. Braid-bread Variation: I will split the dough into two, then each half into three. Roll the three portions into long ropes. Roll one rope in sesame seeds, one in poppy seeds (NOTE: if there is a remote chance you will be drug tested by an over-zealous agency, you may avoid this one), and I will split a rope and fill it with a cheese then close it up again. Braid the three ropes together. They can be straight or I like to shape it into a wreath. Place on a cookie sheet (preferably one of… Read more »

Graybeard

You’re welcome, Ex.

I love fresh-baked bread. For a while, due to trying to control allergies to things like soy, I had to make all my own bread and use real butter (Land O’ Lakes with the Indian maiden) – wonderful times.

Miss that, but not the allergies!

Skyjumper

Thanks for the recipe, Ex. Will have to try it one of these days with some of the cluck, clucks stored safely in my freezer.

On another note, it’s been hard to find yeast on the store shelves these days.

I have made my own bread for quite a few years now. Nothing like warm crusty bread fresh out of the oven and the slathered with real butter.

Getting back to the scarcity of yeast.
Here are some recipes that use no yeast.
Beer and soda are substituted for some to replace the yeast.

Bacon Cheese Beer Bread, Honey Beer Bread and Soda Bread With Raisins are a couple that look worth trying.

Shamelessly stolen from Al Gore’s Invention (grin)

https://kirbiecravings.com/no-yeast-bread-recipes/

Skyjumper

Mmmmmmm……. Chili Con Carne.

Cripes Ex, now you got me all drooling and dripping on my lap and wetting the front of my drawers…..and that just looks totally wrong on a 70 yr. old guy!! LMAO

5th/77th FA

Do you two need to get a room? Or some alone time? A cold shower maybe? (dodges thrown cast iron skillet)

Hey Sky, I know the feeling Bro. I look forward to the Thursdays are for Cooking with the same anticipation as the TAH Friday Weekend Open Thread. Tanks for the bread linky. You shorely had me at bacon cheese and beer bread.

Ex, my back up freezer locker is a 15 footer, upright. Wasn’t that much more than a 5 foot and I’ve got the room. Hard to stock up ice cream too deeply, some of them get ice crystals. With all the milk being dumped lately, I’m concerned that all milk based products are going to be in shorter supply with a higher price right soon.

Ed is right, been a thighs (and legs) man for a good long while. I like that piece of the chicken too.

Thanks to Graybeard for the bread recipe and a Thanks and Welcome Home to Only (GO) Army (BEAT NAVY) Mom for her additions. Everything goes better with Bacon…and beer.

Skyjumper

KoB, I just knew that if I used the right bait & trolled at the right speed, you’d bite on the Bacon Cheese Beer Bread recipe. (grin)

God, I should go fishing. I would probably limit out in no time. 😉

5th/77th FA

My Man! I can’t be bought, but I have been had. And yep, the key to successful fishing is knowing what bait to throw out there. Beer, bacon, biscuit will work every.damn.time! And yep, throw some of that good hoop cheese and a fried egg on that thar cat head. Honey Hush!

With the warm weather, (70s&80s), the crappie, perch, and bream are wearing out the crickets. Need to go drown a few chirpers my own self. I gots a 12 pack of “bait.”

OWB

Another possibility is to use some yeast to make a sourdough starter, then use that, with significantly less yeast or none at all, to make your bread. Now you’re gonna make me go look up the recipe. It’s around here somewhere.

PS Best waffles I ever ate were homemade, using the sourdough starter. Yum.

Only Army Mom

Like so many, I’ve been cooking. A lot. It’s been a constant craving for comfort foods, dishes and meals that remind me of family. Here’s something I made that I hadn’t in many, many years. I remembered the dish because I had some pumpernickel left (ate up all the liver sausage I bought the pumpernickel for) and I was trying to think of something different to make along with this bread. I know there is a name for this dish I just don’t remember it, if I ever knew it. Regardless, it is ridiculously easy and yummy. 1 Kielbasa 1/2 lb thick cut bacon (reserve grease) 1 jar saurkraut (16.0z) 3 medium red skin potatoes, thinly sliced 1/2 red onion, thinly sliced 1 bottle dark beer (always have Guiness) 1 tbl minced garlic (2-3 cloves) 2-3 tbl horseradish (more or less, to taste) 2 tbl bacon grease 2-3 dashes Worcestershire salt & pepper to taste (this is a two pot recipe for layered serving. I use a medium pot for the sauerkraut and a cast iron dutch oven.) Chop raw bacon very small, fry in the cast iron until crisp. Drain bacon, reserving grease. (There is a mason jar of bacon grease on my counter at all times.) Sweat onions until translucent in the cast iron pot (should be enough bacon grease left in the pan, if not add a little) then add garlic, 1/2 bottle of dark beer, bacon grease, stir. Once the bacon grease is melted (if it wasn’t still liquid) add potatoes. The order of ingredients is important. Set to low simmer for 20 minutes or until potatoes begin to soften, stirring as needed to prevent catching. Meanwhile, dump sauerkraut, 1/2 beer, Worcestershire and horseradish in medium pot, stir and simmer until fully heated/cooked. Once potatoes are mostly softened (about 20 minutes), taste for salt/pepper, add if desired. Lay whole kielbasa on top of onions and potatoes. Back to the sauerkraut pot. Add bacon to fully cooked/heated sauerkraut, mix well, dump on top of sausage. Cover and let simmer very low for 15 minutes or until potatoes… Read more »

AW1Ed

Sounds great to this big, dumb Polack. First comment, Only Army Mom? Welcome. Unless you’ve been lurking for a while, I highly recommend hitting the TAH FNG tab at the top of the page.

Again welcome and keep those recipes coming, or anything else on your mind.

Only Army Mom

Ed – I’m both a lurker, and I’ve been around for quite a while. Just haven’t posted much, or under this name. Ask Ex-PH2, she knows who I am.

AW1Ed

I did ask her. She has no idea who you are. We’re all pretty anonymous here, for very good reasons.

Don’t be a stranger, which ever name you use.

AW1Ed

I looked around for a name, and all I can come up with is a variation of ‘kielbasa with potatoes and sauerkraut.’ Maybe one of our German linguists can do better. Anyway, pass the brown mustard, please.

Skyjumper

“…..ate up all the liver sausage I bought ”

“Kielbasa”

“sauerkraut”

Please…please…please Only Army Mom, tell me you also eat “Schwartenmagen” (German for headcheese). Heart be still. (grin)

AW1Ed

Graybeard

Y’all gonna make me sneak out to one of our Texas German towns…

Only Army Mom

On a soft rye with swiss cheese and brown mustard.

Graybeard

May I second AW1Ed’s welcome, Only Army Mom?

Glad to have you along – lurking or sharing good food recipes.

Jeff LPH 3, 63-66

Is something wrong with the plate of lemons?? They look like lemons.

AW1Ed

Double meaning, Ex.

Jeff LPH 3, 63-66

Ex-PH2;

When I was a kid, someone in the neighborhood had a 58 or 59 car that he had a lot of mechanical problems with and the dealer was giving him a hard time so he spray painted the car with yellow paint that said what a lemon all over it with the dealerships name. My Dad told me that the word lemon also was meant to be an item/product that was bad.

AW1Ed

Jeff. Love you like a brother, but have you considered seeking professional help?
*grin*

Jeff LPH 3, 63-66

I forgot to add in on my above comment is that is how the Lemon Laws came about to protect consumers.

gitarcarver

I have been meaning to ask this question, but am I and my family the only people on here that love their Instant Pot and associated recipes?

Just wondering.

OWB

Does knowing people who love theirs count?

AW1Ed

Ninja Foodi here, and yes, it kicks ass.