Crockpot Pineapple Chicken

I had some leftover rice from the previous post, so I decided to make a chicken dish to go along with it. This sounded intriguing, and tasted ok, but didn't come out quite as I wanted. If you follow the suggestions below the recipe, I think this could be really tasty.

Ingredients
Chicken, enough for 4
20 oz can pineapple chunks, drained
1/4 c soy sauce
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes

Directions
Combine everything in the crockpot and cook on low for 4-6 hours or on high for 2-3. Serve with rice or over a bed of spinach.

Notes

• I used frozen chicken thighs. I only had 3 so that's all I used. I think this was what caused all of my problems with this recipe. There wasn't enough chicken so the soy sauce was waaaay too overpowering. I would use 6 or 7 thighs next time for this amount of soy sauce. Also, I think it would be fun using 1/8c soy sauce and 1/8c of the pineapple juice.
• All I had was pineapple slices, so I just diced those up and it worked just as well.
• I had ground red pepper but not the flakes. Since it was ground, the flavor was really able to get into the chicken and made it really spicy (too spicy for Michaela to enjoy). I would not reccomend using the ground unless you really want a kick.

Crockpot Autumn Sausage Casserole

I've decided that my crockpot is one of the most under utilized tools I have in my kitchen. I found this recipe over a year ago on one of my favorite blogs and have been meaning to try it ever since. This was a perfect blend of salty from the sausage and sweet from the carrots and raisins. My husband wasn't a huge fan of it but Michaela ate half a bowlful so it was definitely a win!

Ingredients
1 lb sausage, browned
2 apples, chopped
1/2 c carrots, chopped
3 c long grain rice, cooked (I used a wild rice mix)
1/2 c raisins
1 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp pepper
1/3 c chicken broth

Directions
Add all the ingredients to the crockpot, mix well and cook on low for 5-7 hours or high for 3-4. Since everything is already cooked, you are basically allowing the carrots & apples to soften, and all the flavors to mix.

Notes

• The bottom and sides burned a bit. Next time I would cook it for less time or add more chicken broth.
• Make this dish a little bit healthier by using turkey or chicken sausage rather than pork.