Slow Cooker Honey-BBQ Chicken Wings

Who doesn't love chicken wings covered in BBQ sauce and dipped in Ranch? I combined two different Kraft recipes to make this delicious party meal.

http://www.kraftrecipes.com/recipes/ashley-whitneys-honey-bbq-wings-177858.aspx
http://www.kraftrecipes.com/recipes/slow-cooker-party-wings-133304.aspx

Slow Cooker Honey-BBQ Chicken Wings

Ingredients:

3 lb. chicken wings*
1 1/2 cup Honey BBQ sauce
1 1/2 tsp Garlic Salt
Sprinkle of Chili Powder

Instructions:

1. Bake wings in the oven at 400° for 30 minutes.
2. Place cooked wings in slow cooker.
3. Mix sauce, garlic salt, and chili powder, cover over wings.
4. If your chicken wings look bare to your liking, dump some more sauce on! (I do every time.)
5. Cook on LOW for 5-6 hours or HIGH 2.5-3 hours.

*I like to get the "party wings" package because they are already dislocated, cut up, and ready to go. But if you get the full wings, you'll need to dislocate them and cut them up yourself. Here's how:

1. Where the wing tip bends, dislocate that joint and cut the wing tip off. THROW THE WING TIP AWAY! It's gross to eat, trust me.

2. Where the next part of the wing bends, dislocate that joint and cut it in half. Those two halves you want to keep, they are quite delicious once cooked and covered in sauce. :)

Estimated calories: 133 calories per wing
Suggested sides: green salad, pasta salad, potato salad

Slow Cooker San Francisco Pork Chops

Preparing dinner in a slow cooker is seriously one of the best inventions ever. The original recipe has you cooking these pork chops on the stove, but one day my mom didn't get them thawed, so she just did everything in her slow cooker. When I was ready to try them, I thought the stove top directions sounded difficult, so I did it in the slow cooker and viola! As usual with the slow cooker, it made the pork chops easier to cut, they just fell apart.

Slow Cooker San Francisco Pork Chops

Ingredients:

Pork Chops (1 per person - or 2 per person if you want leftovers!)

Salt and Pepper

1 Tbsp Oil

1 clove garlic, minced (or 1/4 tsp garlic powder)

Sauce:*

4 tsp oil

3/4 cup water, divided

1/2 cup Soy Sauce

1/4 cup Brown Sugar

4 tsp Cornstarch

Instructions:

1. Heat 1 Tbsp oil in skillet.

2. Put chops in skillet and season with salt, pepper, and garlic. Brown on both sides and move into slow cooker.

3. Combine 4 tsp oil, 1/2 cup water, soy sauce, and brown sugar.  Pour over chops.

4. Cook on LOW for at least 5 hours.

5. Mix cornstarch and 1/4 cup cold water. Add to slow cooker and turn to HIGH for 20-30 minutes. If serving with rice, cook the rice at this time.

6. Serve chops either whole or shredded.

*Note: The amount of sauce depends on how many pork chops and the size of your slow cooker. The recipe above is for approximately 4 pork chops. Be prepared to double the sauce recipe.

Estimated Calories: 288 calories per pork chop

Suggested sides: rice, fruit salad

Slow Cooker BBQ Chicken Taco Salad

I used to make this shredded BBQ chicken and would serve it with cheesy potatoes. Then one day my husband asked, "Can you make this chicken into a taco or something? Like Cafe Rio style?" Cafe Rio style? Oh yes baby, I can do that. So I came up with this gem:

Slow Cooker BBQ Chicken Taco Salad

Ingredients:

Chicken breasts (1 breast serves 2-3 people)
1 cup BBQ sauce per 2 chicken breasts
1 can Black Beans
1 can Corn
Shredded Mozzarella cheese (or Cheddar)
Avocados (about 1 per 2 people), diced
Ranch Dressing
Shredded lettuce
Tortillas

Instructions:

1. Place Chicken breasts in slow cooker, cover with BBQ sauce mixed with 2/3 cup of water.*
2. Cook on HIGH for 6 hours or LOW for 8 hours.
3. When done shred chicken, return it to the slow cooker and stir it among remaining sauce.
4. Warm up black beans and corn on the stove (in separate pans), dice avocados, warm tortillas in a skillet pan on medium heat.
5. Layer tortillas with chicken, beans, corn, cheese, lettuce, and avocado; drizzle with Ranch.

*Note: The BBQ sauce-water-chicken ratio will be dependent on the size of your slow cooker. It should almost cover  the chicken breasts. My slow cooker is an 8-qt and so I have to do at least 2 cups of BBQ sauce with 1 1/3 cup water.

Like this:

Estimated Calories: 600-700 per salad (It depends on how much of everything you put on)
Recommended sides: Fruit Salad