bbq chook in the crockpot and a new quinoa salad to try

Deary me, I have been a bit slack on this old blog lately!

I just haven't been able to get my act together.

A couple of times I sat down to write something and couldn't decide what to write, nothing seemed interesting enough or I couldn't be bothered to take some photos to post or whatever, 

so they just didn't get written.

But last night we had something new and yummy for tea so I just had to come and share it with you.

I have had these recipes pinned for a while and I thought I should go through my boards and have a look for something new and inspiring to cook.

As it was my cooking day yesterday,

(what I don't cook everyday!- no I don't but that is probably a whole other post that I should write soon!)

I thought I would try a couple.

The first part was a crockpot recipe for rotisserie chicken.

Now here in Australia we would probably call it a BBQ chook or cooked chook.

We often used to buy one of these for a quick lunch on the weekend from the supermarket but at $10+ each they work out a little exe.

So I started buying a few extra chooks when I did my grocery shop.

I would get one out on a Friday to defrost and then cook it up in the oven for over the weekend.

Or if we had a roast chicken I would do two and we would have one ready for another meal- either a salad or sandwiches or something else super yummy like a chicken pie.

I buy the fresh chickens from Woolworths, they are around 1.5kgs in size and cost a little over $5, so basically half of what I was paying for a cooked chook.

1.5kg is just enough for our family with no leftovers, but not a huge amount of meat each, 

sometimes we might break into a little of the extra chook if we need to.

So back to last night's dinner.

This recipe cooked the chicken in a slow cooker or crockpot and I thought I may as well give it a burl!

Because I have a very large crockpot I could fit 2 of these chickens in and now we have one for lunch today.

I must say I was surprised at how much this tasted like a bought BBQ chook, minus the stuffing which I can't eat anyway, and goodness knows what junk they put in it or on it as the case may be.

It got the thumbs up from the family, so I think it will become a summer staple.

Great when you don't want to turn on the oven and heat up the house on a hot day!

 I will write the recipe out as I found it and then write in my adjustments.

 Crockpot BBQ chicken

1 whole chicken (1.5kgs)

2T paprika

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper (optional) - I didn't!

1 1/2 t onion powder

2T garlic powder or 3 cloves garlic

1t salt

1/2t black pepper

Place all of your ingredients in a small bowl  and stir in water by the teaspoon until a paste forms.

Rub it on your chicken inside and out.

Spray your slow cooker with spray oil and place your chicken in slow cooker (now the recipe says to place it breast side up, the picture actually shows the breast down, now I have been told that if you place the breast down you will get a moister chicken as the fat runs down into the breast- so that's what I did).

Put the lid on and cook on low for 6-7 hours or high 3.5-4.5 hrs.

Make sure the thickest part of the thigh registers 180degrees- now I presumed this meant Fahrenheit as it is an American recipe and as my food thermometer has both I didn't bother to convert. 

Now I just need to tell you that I cheated a little on the ingredients.

I didn't have any onion powder or garlic powder so instead of that and salt I used an Olssons Sea Salt Rub. I actually have no idea if you can buy these in the supermarket as VCH deals with Olssons for his business and we get heaps of these given to us.

The one I chose is called Wild Thing and contains juniper berry, thyme, onion, rosemary and Australian sea salt.

Now when I checked after 6 hrs on low there was lots of liquid in the bottom, so I tipped it out into a bowl.

I have since put into another container in the fridge and will use as a stock.

I thought it might be just fat but as it is now cool it doesn't look that way at all.

I then just left the chickens in there with the crockpot turned off until we were ready to serve, but I think I could have left it on low if I wanted them really hot or were leaving them for a long time.

Now of course to go with the chicken I thought I would have a nice salad or two - so I made a coleslaw and this lovely quinoa salad with blueberries, strawberries and watermelon.

Here is a link to the recipe:

They served in on individual plates but I just put it on one large platter.

I also used frozen blueberries and not fresh- I just tossed them through the slightly warm quinoa frozen and they were nicely defrosted by the time we served it. 

I also think you could get away with half the amount of quinoa (mine is a combo of white and red), 

when you look at the photo on the original recipe they don't seem to have as much quinoa either.

We have plenty left over for tea tonight.

I think this would be lovely to take to a shared meal.

Again all the family liked this even the ones not overly keen on quinoa!

You may also notice this new button on my sidebar.

I was invited to join this sight because they were impressed by the quality of my recipes- imagine- I was a bit chuffed!

Have a great weekend everyone- I have some custom orders that I need to get finished for a cafe that is

opening soon!

red quinoa and sweet potato salad

I have made this several times now and it is just delicious, everyone loves it!

It started off one night when I was thinking of something to go with the chicken we were having for tea.

I had some red quinoa that I had wanted to try
(I also have some black- but haven't got that far yet)

I had heaps of sweet potato because our local fruit and veg had them on special for 99 cents a kilo, so I bought a box and then another box.

I thought maybe quinoa and sweet potato would be nice together, so I googled and there were tonnes of recipes, so I made up my own, as you do.

This is a bit throw it all in, so just bear with me!

First I peeled a sweet potato and cut it into cubes, drizzled with some EVOO and roasted it in my oven, roasted sweet potato is so yummy!!!

I also sliced the sides off a red capsicum and put that in to roast until the skin blistered.

Meanwhile cook 1 cup of quinoa (you can use any colour)- will make 3 cups of cooked.

When all was ready I peeled the skin off the capsicum and sliced it finely, sliced some shallots from the garden, toasted some macadamia nuts and threw it all together.

For the dressing I used a little raspberry vinegar, rice malt syrup and olive oil and shook them together in a jar and then poured it over the top and tossed it through.

Sprinkle some extra macadamias on top and some herbs, 

(I think I used parsley, but coriander or mint are nice as well) 

to make it look professional pretty.

It is super nice with chicken, but I and going to try it with fish soon and can imagine it would be nice with lamb too!

shared at:

beetroot and mint salad

This was last night's tea.
Steak, potatoes, and veges.
The vegetables were golden zucchini and eggplant from the garden char grilled.
VCH even declared that the eggplant was yummy!
Fresh asparagus also char grilled- not from the garden but in season and cheap at the moment.
Nothing can beat fresh asparagus - yum!!
It would have to be one of our favourite vegetables but you can only eat it for such a short period of time.

The other vegetable was beetroot also from the garden.
I didn't have time to cook it so I made up this super quick salad that we all agreed was just so yummy.
I have written it down here for you to try.


Beetroot and mint salad

Ingredients:
2 beetroot
white balsamic vinegar
2 heaped tablespoons sour cream
Mint

1. Peel and grate the beetroot leaving the stalk on it- to stop it bleeding too much.
2. Put this in a bowl with a splash of white balsamic vinegar
3. Mix in sour cream and roughly chopped mint

It is just so delicious.