Tuesday, September 2, 2014

Chicken and Eggplant in the Crockpot - 21 Day Fix Dinner


It works with the 21 Day Fix and its for the crockpot!  What could be better?



Ingredients
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
2 cups (or 1 28 oz can) crushed tomatoes
1 small - medium eggplant, diced
Mozzarella cheese
3 cloves garlic, minced
basil
Salt, pepper

(Serves 4 - 6)


Let me tell you, this smells so good.  I love cooking in the crockpot because when you come home from being at work all day or from a fun day with the family at the park, you step inside to a wonderful aroma!

A few Sundays ago was one of those days where we were not crazy busy but had thing to do to prepare for our trip to Maine.  I had some yard work to do, lots of laundry so that we could pack.  Last minute items needed to be purchased like shave gel.  Sorry guys, but the ladies know you can't run the risk of running out of shave gel on a beach vacation.  I was even able to take my dog for a long walk on the trails at the town park before I had to take him to be boarded at the kennel (aka, doggy summer camp).  I did not want to have to stop and cook dinner so I literally through all of the ingredients into the crockpot around 10:30 am and turned on low.

I used frozen chicken breasts.  Purist say never to use frozen meat in the crockpot but I've never had a problem.  So it is up to you what you want to use.

I diced the eggplant, leaving the skins on.  You can peel it but some of the nutritional value is in the skin.  Eggplant has iron, calcium and other minerals.  It has photo nutrients which are good for the brain (this is in the skin).  Eggplant provides fiber and is low in calories.

Start with a layer of eggplant on the bottom on the crockpot and then put the chicken on top and season with salt and pepper.  Mix the mince garlic in the crushed tomatoes and set aside.  I then added the rest of the eggplant and poured the crushed tomatoes on top.  I used crushed tomatoes I picked from my garden but you can you canned if that is what you have.

I like to make ribbons with my basil (chiffonade).  I added some to the crock pot at this point but I saved a few leaves for the end.  I think fresh herbs are best to add at the end while dry herbs benefit more from being added to dishes in the early stages.

It was around 5pm that I put the crockpot on warm.  The chicken will pull apart.  Be careful NOT to overcook because it will get dry.  You can use chicken thighs since they can withstand longer cooking times but it is not as lean as chicken breasts.

I served this over whole wheat couscous.  Of course I used my 21 Day Fix containers to serve.  I sprinkled it with mozerrela cheese.  And because I hadn't had a blue container all day I used a whole blue for my cheese.  Oh, so good.  I sprinkled the dishes with more basil.  My garden has lots of Swiss Chard so I sautéed some and used that as a base for this dish.  My boys ate it, but they didn't like how it looked.  I thought it was so good and the chicken took on the flavors nicely and the eggplant had an almost buttery flavor.  Hmm. Tasty.


If you are interested in the 21 Day Fix, check it out here or email me with questions!

21 Day Fix Challenge Pack  or 21 Day Fix Base Pack
 




5 comments:

  1. Yummy, have arranged dinner for my friend this weekend and I am surely going to have this as one of the dish. Thanks for posting recipe here

    ReplyDelete
  2. How long did you leave the crock pot on and what setting? How many containers did you use to portion this out?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It was cooking on low for 6.5 hours. To portion it out I scooped out chicken and used the red to measure 1 portion of protein. I don't remember if I filled up a whole green for the eggplant and tomatoes. My guess is it was half a green because I served it over chard, which I am sure I used a whole green because I LOVE it!

      Delete
  3. What are the containers for 21 day fix?

    ReplyDelete