crockpot cashew chicken {recipe}

Confession: I've become so good about doing a dinner menu for the entire month but we were home so few evenings this summer, that my menu planning kind of fell to the wayside.

{so here's me trying to get back on the horse}

I love my crockpot. I just do. I can make dinner in the morning or possibly when the kids are eating lunch...and I'm done until I get the plates and set the table that night!

Anything that makes my life simpler, I clutch tightly. And so it is with my slow cooker.

So here's my latest crockpot find. And it's seriously good.

Here's proof:

I found the recipe on Six Sister's Stuff {great blog, btw}. Six sisters...can you imagine??

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First, grab a ziplock and combine flour and pepper before adding the chicken.

1/4 cup all purpose flower {I used whole wheat}

1/2 tsp black pepper

Shake to coat well

Heat 1 Tbsp oil in skillet and place coated chicken over medium-high heat.

Brown chicken, about 2 minutes on each side, then place in crockpot.

Now for the sauce:

Combine soy sauce {I use kikkoman less sodium soy sauce}, rice wine vinegar, ketchup, brown sugar, ginger, and pepper flakes into a small bowl.

. . Last time I asked Ben to grab fresh ginger for me at the store, he came back with this. I actually love it. I now use the garlic version, as well . .

Pour sauce over chicken and cook on LOW for 3-4 hours.

Add cashews and stir {I put the cashews in about 30 mins before serving so they'd be a touch softer for the kids teeth...mainly Imani's}.

The recipe calls for serving over rice. I love quinoa and had some that needed to be eaten, so that's what we used instead. It was fantastic.

NOTE: I doubled the recipe for the sauce and it ended up being the perfect amount so we had some to drizzle on the quinoa.

{recipe}

. ingredients .

. 2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken thigh tenders or chicken breast tenders*

. 1/4 cup all purpose flour

. 1/2 tsp black pepper

. 1 Tbsp canola oil

. 1/4 cup soy sauce

. 2 Tbsp rice wine vinegar

. 2 Tbsp ketchup

. 1 Tbsp brown sugar

. 1 garlic clove, minced

. 1/2 tsp grated fresh ginger

. 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes

. 1/2 cup cashews

. directions .

. Combine flour and pepper in large Ziploc bag. Add chicken. Shake to coat with flour mixture.

. Heat oil in skillet over medium-high heat. Brown chicken about 2 minutes on each side. Place chicken in slow cooker.

. Combine soy sauce, vinegar, ketchup, sugar, garlic, ginger, and pepper flakes in small bowl; pour over chicken.

. Cook on LOW for 3 to 4 hours. Add cashews and stir. Serve over rice {or quinoa}.

 [Makes 4-6 servings ]

REMEMBER: If you like sauce and want to have some to pour over the chicken and the rice, double the sauce ingredients.

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Hope this makes dinnertime a little simpler!