Slow and low

This Crock-Pot cranberry chicken is definitely worth a try.

0
Fall apart cranberry crockpot chicken can be served over rice.

The chicken Crock-Pot recipe was posted somewhere on Facebook, with a low-quality photo mashup of the four ingredients — boneless, skinless chicken thighs, Lipton French onion soup mix, Catalina dressing, and cranberry sauce. “That’s bizarre,” I thought to myself, and kept scrolling. The simple recipe stuck in my head, and I wondered to myself, Heck, maybe it’s not all that bad. The next day I picked up the ingredients at the store, put them in the Crock-Pot and headed to the office. I invited my boyfriend over for dinner, and told him if the concoction was horrible he was going to pick up pizza; he agreed. When I got home from work I ran up the stairs to my apartment, I did actually remember to turn the Crock-Pot on (thank God — that part about unsupervised slow cookers gives me anxiety). I opened the lid: It didn’t look terribly appealing, but also not horrible. Most things in the Crock-Pot taste delicious but don’t look so great, so even though I was skeptical, I still had hope. 

My guinea pig arrived, we made our plates, topping jasmine rice with the cranberry chicken, and sat down for dinner. We were looking at each other wondering what the other was thinking. I was waiting for his response, he was waiting for mine. My patience didn’t last, and I blurted out, “This is freaking weirdly good.” We both laughed, and with a mouthful, he said, “You’re so right, it is really good!”

Pack of boneless skinless thighs, a packet of Lipton French onion soup mix, half a can of cranberry sauce, and about a third of the bottle of Kraft Catalina dressing in the Crock-Pot for two hours on high, or four hours on low, and dinner is served. Tastes just as good as leftovers, which is good because it makes more than enough. Serve it over rice, like I did, maybe even put it on a bun with some cheese, or on top of a salad. 

I am thankful I took the chance on this unique recipe. The hardest part is washing the Crock-Pot.