Crockpot Chicken - Al Fresco!

Thanks to some great advice from Jen, we are using our crockpot again!

As I've mentioned before (probably more times than necessary), I just cannot stand the smell of cooking right now - particularly meats, veggies and anything breaded or fried. Ugh.

But November nights are perfect for a nice slowcooked supper, and of course half the joy of using your crockpot is how wonderful your house smells as the food cooks! (The other half is how incredibly easy it is to prepare a meal in this way - throw everything in, turn the pot on and you are pretty much done!)

Anyhoo, Jen suggested moving the crockpot outside, and doesn't that make all kinds of sense? :) Jen does this to escape the heat (she lives in Key West, after all), but it would also keep all that "cooking smell" out of the house!

So here we have it, seen above - our trusty crockpot, parked on the deck, just in front of the grill, industriously stewing away ...

Dinner will be ready at 5:30 p.m.

:)

Although, I wonder if the cool outside temperature - high 40s today - will affect the cooking time at all? Any thoughts?

For the record, this is the recipe I'm using - I made it over the summer and it was a HUGE hit with my family. This time I had Bill do the skillet work while I got the peppers and spices ready. This dish makes a lot, and is wonderful served over linguine ... and with crusty garlic bread AND a glass of white wine IF you're not pregnant. ;)

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More on the domestic front, we moved around our family room today! And by "we" I mean, Bill and Bookworm moved around our family room, while I sat on my duff and made "helpful" comments. ;)

Friends, family and longtime readers will remember our couch was facing away from the windows and the tv was in the opposite corner. But I like this arrangement a lot. It opens up the old TV corner for something else and makes a few cozy zones in an otherwise large-ish room. Plus, "my corner" of the sectional is now directly beneath a birdfeeder window and that will be so nice this winter. :)

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Also, in between attending Mass, setting up the crockpot and moving around the family room, I taught CCD today. (Fyi: teaching 4th grade religious ed. is like herding cats on a bicycle - goodness me, how exhausting!) Anyways, we learned all about Advent this week - and boy did it get me excited! (The kids too, I think.) I am having a lot of fun brainstorming my ideas for this Advent season ... it begins just two weeks from today!

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Well my friends ... I hope your weekend's been lovely. Have you seen any good movies? Are you watching anything fun on TV tonight? We'll be watching Once Upon a Time of course while recording Oprah's Favorite Things from 8-10 and Boardwalk Empire after that. The trick will be finding the time to watch all this good stuff later this week- and staying awake late enough, too!

That said, I'm off now to nap so I can keep alert for OUaT tonight!

Have a great night, my friends ... see you again very soon!

❤