Slow Cooker BBQ Pulled Chicken & A Sweet Treat

As promised, here is the breakdown of my workout this morning.  The last 10 minutes are SUPER intense!!

Dinner tonight was quick & easy, thanks to my handy-dandy slow cooker.  I’ll tell ya, I really need to use this thing more.  This morning before I left for work, I through the ingredients into the pot and let it cook alllll day long.  When I got home, this house was smellin’ YUMMY! 😛  So what was on the menu…..?

BBQ PULLED CHICKEN!

I got this recipe from my friend Joelle last summer, and it was originally made for pork.  But I figured, why not chicken?  I’ll give you the full recipe, but I cut it in half for Jay & I.

BBQ Pulled Chicken

-4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts

-1 can Campbell’s French Onion Soup (10 1/2 oz.)

-1 cup ketchup

-1/4 cup cider vinegar

-3 tbsp packed brown sugar (*I accidentally omitted this…totally forgot!  But I didn’t even miss it.)

-1 bottle smokey bbq sauce (*In my recipe, I didn’t measure, I just added until it looked coated enough-maybe 1/4-1/2 cup)

Directions:

Mix soup, ketchup, cider vinegar, and brown sugar.  Pour over chicken.  Cover and cook on low 8-10 hours, or high 4-5 hours, or until done.

Remove chicken from slow cooker.  Cool slightly, then shred using 2 forks.  Return chicken to slow cooker & add bbq sauce.  Mix and reheat through, about 5-10 minutes.

This stuff is SO YUMMY!  I had mine on an Arnold’s Sandwich Thin, while Jay had his on a hamburger bun (and then went back for seconds using some baked Tostitoes scoops…also delish!)

Along with our bbq pulled chicken, I roasted up some fresh veggies.

I made a BIG batch, so I can have some leftovers throughout the week.  I tossed some broccoli, green & red bell peppers, red onion, yellow squash, zucchini, and grape tomatoes in a little minced garlic, olive oil, salt & pepper.  I roasted these babies in a 375 degree oven for about 25 minutes, checking once to stir.

After dinner, I decided I wanted to make a little “sweet treat” for dessert, so I ended up making a unique cupcake recipe that I have…

Chocolaty Chocolate Cupcakes!

-2 cups devil’s food cake mix (1/2 of a box)

-1 packet fat free hot cocoa mix

-1/2 cup Egg Beaters

-2 tbsp. semi-sweet mini chocolate chips

-1 tsp. Splenda (granulated)

-1/8 tsp salt

Directions:

1. Dissolve chocolate chips and hot cocoa mix in 12 oz. of boiling water.  Put glass in freezer for 30 minutes to chill.
2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
3. After 30 minutes, stir cocoa blend and mix with all other ingredients in a mixing bowl.  Whisk for about 2 minutes.
4. Spray 12-cup muffin tin with cooking spray and evenly pour batter – it will be very thin, this is ok!
5. Bake cupcakes for 15 minutes – they will look slightly shiny and might look a little funny on top! 🙂

(See what I mean about the funny top?) 🙂

Jay and I will be spending the night with our sweet treats, watching my fave TV show, One Tree Hill, and maybe catching up on our DVR’d Cougar Town.

*FYI: Restaurant.com has started a new promo this week – 80% Off Gift Certificates!!  Just enter promo code “ENJOY” at checkout!

Speaking of restaurants…What’s your all-time FAVORITE restaurant??

I don’t think I can really choose just ONE!  But some of my all-time favorites are Lanie’s Cafe in Albany, NY (they have everything you could imagine, plus a killer salad bar!) Villa Valenti, which makes an AMAZING pasta sauce, and for breakfast, Cafe Madison in Albany, NY, which has the best oatmeal red raspberry pancakes I have EVER HAD!  Hmm…I think I need to get to some of these places ASAP! 😉