Italian Crock Pot Chicken

Italian Crock Pot Chicken

It's autumn, the time of year when I start craving richly flavored slow cooked foods.  I wanted an Italian chicken dinner and daydreamed about a recipe I used to make a very long time ago, which contained stewed tomatoes, onions, garlic powder and chicken.  You plopped the chicken breast on a piece of foil, added the veggies, closed it up and baked it.  It was yummy, but didn't make enough sauce; and the 45 minute baking time seemed interminable after a long day at work.  I had a baby eggplant and some sliced cremini (baby portabella) mushrooms that needed to be used up.  Here's what I came up with:

The Ingredients

1 small eggplant, peeled and cut in 1/2" cubes (about 1 1/2 cups), optional
1 medium onion, sliced in half moons
1 rib celery, thinly sliced
1/2 large carrot, sliced in half moons
1/2 cup coarsely chopped crimini mushrooms
4 cloves garlic*, minced
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, still frozen
1 pint home canned tomato chunks or a 14 -16 oz can
1 (15 oz.) can tomato sauce
1 Tablespoon red wine vinegar
1 Tablespoon tomato paste
1 Tablespoon Italian seasonings
1 teaspoon garlic powder*
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 stem fresh rosemary
*we really like garlic!  Feel free to reduce the quantities.

Spray the slow cooker with non-stick.  Place onions, carrot, celery, mushrooms and eggplant (if using) in the bottom of the slow cooker.  Place chicken breasts (still frozen) on top of the veggies.

In a bowl, combine tomato paste, tomatoes and their juice, tomato sauce, chopped garlic, garlic powder, spices and vinegar.  Pour over chicken.  Place rosemary stem on top.

Cook on High 4-6 hours, propping the lid open with a toothpick the last hour, to help thicken the sauce.
Serve over hot cooked spaghetti with slabs of fresh, buttered bread.

The aroma was mouth-watering!

The eggplant gives a slight cinnamony flavor when it cooks with tomatoes, which I LOVE and my husband tolerates.  The next time I make this, I will leave out the eggplant.

I was delighted at how well this turned out.  The chicken wasn't dry, because it goes in frozen on top of the veggies.  Bone in chicken would be even juicier.