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Picnic in My Kitchen: Day 1 of My Week of Meals


The easier a recipe is, the more I like it! I especially love recipes that can be made in my slow cooker. I know that there are better ways to make barbecue, but the ease of this recipe makes it a favorite of mine.
First I rub down all of my chicken breasts with a homemade spice rub. If you don’t have a huge spice collection like I do, DO NOT run out to store and buy every spice in the rub recipe. Just buy one jar of McCormick’s Mesquite Chicken Seasoning (or something similar), or use what you already have at home and make something up yourself! Don’t be afraid to try new things.
Note: Most rubs have a paprika, garlic, and onion base with some type of added heat, sweetness, or both. You could add things like dry mustard, dark brown sugar or cayenne depending on what you like. I have made a rub that is a good seasoning mixture for a Mexican type meal as well because I will be reserving ½ of the chicken I am making today for the quesadillas I am planning to make later this week!

After the chicken is seasoned, I place it in the slow cooker and then add about a ½ cup of water. Just enough to give a little moisture to the chicken while it is cooking, but not enough to cover the chicken completely.

Then let the magic of a slow cooker occur. Turn it on, put the lid on, and leave! I cook my chicken for about 4 hours on high or 7-8 hours on low. I have learned that every slow cooker is different, so just be sure to check on it a few times during the cooking process. There is nothing worse than overdone, dry, chewy chicken.

When the chicken is cooked I use two forks to shred it into small pieces. I don’t know what it is about it, but I always prefer chicken that is shredded over chicken that is cut into chunks. The chicken is so moist it just falls apart!

At this point, I remove half of the chicken, place it in a small Tupperware container and store it in the fridge. I will use it later this week in my Southern Quesadillas!

The last thing you do is add 1 cup barbecue sauce to the remaining chicken and mix thoroughly. Bam, Yummo, Shizam! Perfect barbecue at your finger tips.
There is a restaurant in Versailles that serves their pulled pork sandwich topped with onion straws and chipotle mayo. I first tried the sandwich because of it name, The Big Cuz (DeMarcus Cousins was my favorite UK basketball player a couple years ago), but this quickly became my families favorite way to eat barbecue sandwiches. It’s delicious! I save time and dress mine up with a store bought chipotle mayo and crispy fried onions.

These are finger licking good…trust me! My husband always asks for second and sometimes third helpings when I make barbecue.  
Now, I was planning to make sweet potato beer fries as a side to our yummy sandwiches, but my blog is about my crazy life because it is just that, crazy! My husband and I have been trying to take our 8 month old and dog for a walk every day. Today our walk turned into a little more than we bargained for. We were all set to start walking…Sammy on leash, Addison in her stroller and as I was shutting our front door I asked, “You do have your keys, right?” My husband looked at me with a “you’re kidding” look and at that moment, as the door slammed behind me, he hollered, “NO!” Long story short, 2 very, very long hours later we finally got back into our home. By this point we were both starving and we decided the sweet potato fries were going to have to wait till sloppy joe night!

Pulled Barbecue Chicken Sandwiches

Recipe:
6-8 boneless skinless chicken breasts
½ cup water
1 cup barbecue sauce (I prefer Paula Deans)
1 pack buns of your choice (I prefer the slider size buns. They tend to help me with portion control.)
1 jar chipotle mayo
1 canister crispy fried onions
4 leafs lettuce

Dry Rub:
1/4 cup paprika
1 tablespoons garlic powder
1 tablespoons onion powder
1 tablespoon chili powder
2 teaspoons salt
1 pinch oregano

1.       Mix all ingredients in the rub recipe together. Set aside.
2.       Pat dry chicken breasts with a paper towel and then rub each side with the homemade
        rub mixture.
3.       Place the chicken in a slow cooker and pour in approximately ½ cup water.
4.       Cook the chicken on high for about 4 hours or low for 7-8 hours.
5.       Shred chicken while it is still in crockpot.
6.       Pour in 1 cup barbecue sauce and mix thoroughly.
7.       Serve on buns with chipotle mayo, crispy fried onions and lettuce.

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